The Lady of the Waterways
by Templarlady
Summary: An old friend brings trouble to Bill and Alex's relationship
1. Chapter 1

The Lady of the Waterways

At first it seemed like a normal Saturday night. The night my world fell apart.

I had been out shopping and had arranged to meet Bill in Carmillas, He had some paperwork he wanted to finish so he was in the office and I was having a drink at the bar.

As I sat idly watching the dancers I saw a man come in and look around. By now I knew most of the regular patrons and had enough experience to recognise the look of the fangbangers. I had to admit that it amused me to watch them, both women and men, trying to pick up Bill. Only the other day I had observed him trying, politely, to shake off some Morticia Addams lookalike in heavy goth makeup. However this man was neither, I had never seen him before. He was pleasant looking, average height with sandy hair and blue eyes. He was wearing jeans and a check shirt with a pair of scuffed cowboy boots and he looked, out of place somehow. When I heard him speak I realised why. He was an American. A tourist I supposed. He came up and leaned on the bar next to me and ordered a whisky. I smiled at him taking in the shirt and the boots.

"You're new in town cowboy!" I said with a smile and a distinctly Engish accent.

He laughed cheerfully. "Guess I am!" he said. He held out his hand. "Name's Sam" he said "I'm just over here on a short vacation."

I shook his hand. "I'm Alex" I said. I took a sip of my drink and watched him for a moment. "You'll pardon me for saying so Sam" I said "but you don't seem to me to be the type to patronise a vampire bar?"

He gave me a shy little smile. "Well, I'm not normally, but I'm looking for someone, a vampire. I was told he's in this area."

"A friend of yours?" I asked curiously.

He paused for a moment and then smiled again. "Yes...an old friend. I've got some news for him, something I think he's going to want to hear."

I smiled back at him. "So who is he then, this lucky vampire?" I asked. "I'm in here quite a lot, I might know him."

Sam looked at me with a thoughtful expression. Perhaps I didn't look like the type to patronise vampire bars either. I certainly hoped not anyway! "His name's Compton" he said "Bill Compton...do you know him?"

I'm not sure why, but I found that I didn't want Sam to know about me and Bill, not just yet anyway, so I kept my face carefully neutral and said noncommittally "Yes, I know him, he comes in here sometimes."

"You've talked to him?" asked Sam eagerly. "How is he?"

"Seems fine to me. Why do you ask?"

Sam sighed. "Well, last I saw of him he was in a very bad way. When we discovered he was gone, the general opinion was that he was dead...you know, finally dead? I was surprised to hear from Sookie recently that he was still alive, well...not really alive but...you know what I mean?"

I gave a tiny little smile. "Yes, I know."

He gave me a sidelong look. "He tell you about Sookie?" he asked.

"Yes." I said softly "He told me about Sookie."

"Well, her boyfriend's finally ditched her" he said with a resigned sigh. "Everyone else could see it coming, but it still hit her hard when he married someone else."

"Eric?" I asked, surprised "I understood he was married to her?"

"Yeah, that's what she thought too. But, she being a mere human, it obviously wasn't that binding when a better prospect came along. He's married the Queen of Oklahoma."

I sat quite still, balanced on my bar stool, not quite sure what to think of this news. "And this is the big news you need to give Bill?" I asked. "You think he's going to leave everything he has here and rush back to Bon Temps just because there's a possibility that Sookie might still be interested?"

Sam smiled confidently. "Yep. Sure he will. He adores her, always has, always will. When she left him, started seeing Eric, he was devastated...poor guy, she's the love of his life. Everyone could see it except her." He took a swig of his whisky and looked back at me. "A lot of folks in Bon Temps were quite fond of him you know. They were shocked and upset when he disappeared, but not really surprised. He'd turned into a bit of a recluse, depressed I guess, and then after he was injured everyone figured she'd be able to help him, but it just didn't happen."

"You think Sookie would want him back?" I asked.

He took another swig of the whisky and said thoughtfully "Well, she talks about him, seems to miss him, you know?"

"But what about him?" I asked "He has a life here, a position...a girlfriend. Do you think he'd give all that up?"

"For her? In a heartbeat." he said with a confident little smile "Ain't never seen a man so much in love."

I sat on the stool feeling suddenly very cold. "What about his girlfriend?" I asked quietly.

"Well...if she really loved him, she'd let him go I guess..."

I picked up my wineglass and downed the last of my Pinot Grigio in a daze. "Well, it was nice to meet you Sam" I said, getting down from the bar stool. "I'm sure Bill will be in soon. Good luck!" I managed a smile somehow and headed across the club to the corridor leading to the main doors. I felt as though my brain was full of that down they put in quilts, I just couldn't seem to think at all. Everything sounded muffled too, as though the fluff also filled my ears. There was a corridor leading out to the main entrance to the club with a long mirror down one wall which reflected the bar area. That was how I came to see Bill come out of the office and walk over to the bar.

Ilario helped me with my coat as I watched Bill's face light up with recognition when he saw Sam sitting at the bar. Sam clapped his hand on Bill's shoulder and began talking to him. I stood in the short corridor watching the reflection of Bill's face in the mirror, hoping against hope that he would not react to Sam's news. Hoping that he would laugh, brush it off somehow. Instead I saw clearly and unmistakeably the hope that flared up in his beautiful eyes. I felt my own eyes burning hot with tears as I turned and walked out of the club heading for my car.

After two attempts I managed to get the door open and sat in the car for a moment thinking. "...if she really loved him, she'd let him go..." I thought of the bleak look on Bill's face as he watched Sookie cross the foyer of the Hotel in Amsterdam wearing the lilac dress he had bought her. The one she wore when he proposed to her. I remembered the pain I had seen in his eyes when I came into the room at The Authority's headquarters in London to find her there. I remembered how he had wept, helplessly, in my arms that night until the dawn pulled him down into the darkness. I wiped away the tears with the back of my hand, started the car and drove away into the night.


	2. Chapter 2

I sat up straight in the chair and stretched my arms up over my head, pulling at the stiff muscles in my neck. Then I closed down the expenses programme, switched off the laptop and got up. Finished at last, time to see what Alex was up to in the bar. I had felt a strange sensation through the blood bond for a few moments earlier. I had paused for a moment feeling for her. It was not fear, she could not be in any danger in the bar, I knew Ilario would protect her from any problems that were likely to occur in the club. The feeling had faded and I had gone back to my work.

As soon as I opened the door and walked out into the club I saw him, but I didn't quite believe it. Sam Merlotte was sitting at the bar with a whisky in his hand. He hadn't seen me and I walked quickly over to him.

"Sam! Whatever are you doing here?" I asked with a smile.

He turned at the sound of my voice and grinned at me. "Bill" he cried, slapping me on the shoulder. "They said I might find you here! It's been a long time. You look good, how are you?"

"Oh, I'm very well thanks, I've fully recovered as you can see." I sat down beside him and the barman brought me my usual Tru Blood with a smile. Sam looked surprised that I had not found it necessary to ask for it.

"You must come here a lot?" he asked.

"I've taken a leaf out of your book Merlotte!" I laughed. "I own this place."

Sam laughed too. "You have my sympathy! Now you know what I've been through all this time." He turned to face me, suddenly serious. "You know, you were missed...by a lot of people. We were really upset to think you'd met the true death."

I sighed. "I'm sorry Sam, but you saw the state I was in when I left. I really didn't care if I lived or died at that point and I couldn't imagine that anyone else did either."

Sam took a swig of his whisky and said "Well, I've got some news for you from back home."

"Oh yes" I said with a smile "and what might that be then?"

"Sookie's not with Eric any more" he said bluntly.

For just a moment my heart leapt and I just stared at him, my eyes wide with hope. Then my usual realism reasserted itself and I asked "She left him?"

"Well...no, not exactly" said Sam carefully. "Seems he's contracted a vampire marriage. Something his maker arranged is what we heard."

"But he's married to Sookie!" I said indignantly.

"Didn't seem to stop him from what I hear!" said Sam. "Guess it got...annulled or something?"

"He was contracted to someone else?" I asked.

"Queen of Oklahoma" he said.

I leaned on the bar thinking for a moment. "Well, I can see how that might mean that the previous marriage, to Sookie, was invalid." I turned back to Sam. "How's she taking it?" I asked.

"Well..." he said. "You know Sook...she was mad as hell!"

I smiled to myself. "Yes, I can imagine!" I stood staring into space for a moment, then shook myself. "Well, thanks for the information Sam. But I'm sure you didn't come all this way just to try and find me? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I just felt that I deserved a break. I've taken some holiday time, that's all." He took another swig of his whisky and looked at me seriously. "So what are you going to do now?"

"I'm not going to do anything!" I said, surprised. I watched as his face changed. "My God! You really thought that I'd drop everything and rush back home didn't you? Come on Sam! You know better than that. It was you who had to ask her to come round to see me after I was injured! After risking my life for her, she didn't even have the courtesy to come and see how I was! No, I won't be coming home Sam, not for a very long time. I have a life here, businesses, responsibilities." I looked around the bar, "That reminds me, where's Alex? She was supposed to be waiting for me."

"Who's Alex" asked Sam.

"She's my partner" I answered. "She's the main reason I won't be coming back to Bon Temps!"

Sam's face fell "Oh! Right" he said. "Um….she was here at the bar a few minutes ago, but she….um, left." He had begun to look distinctly worried.

"Left? But she was waiting for me. Why would she leave, did she say anything, did you talk to her?" Sam refused to meet my eyes and I began to get a bad feeling about this. What was it that I had felt from her earlier? Shock and then a vague unhappiness, somehow blurred as if she were trying to shield it from me. "Well!" I said sharply. "Did she say where she was going?"

"Er…no" said Sam, looking uncomfortable. "Bill, look I'm sorry but I didn't know she was with you….not that way. She only said that she knew you and, well, I told her about Sookie and Eric. She asked me what I thought you'd do when you heard and I said…well, I said you'd go back."

I stared at him, horrified. "What! You told her that I'd leave her for Sookie!"

"Well hey! I didn't know that she was the girlfriend we were talking about." he said.

"You talked about her? What did you say?" I was really getting worried now, I felt for Alex through the bond and all I could pick up was a dull ache.

Sam was looking equally worried now. "Well she said you had a girlfriend. She asked what I thought about her. What I thought she should do." I said nothing, just waited, watching Sam struggling to tell me what he had said. "I said... if she really loved you, she'd let you go."

I leaned on the bar in shock. "You said what?" I whispered.

"Hey, I didn't know it was her did I? Oh God Bill, I'm so sorry. Look, she'll be back, I'm sure. She seemed a very nice girl, sensible, I..."

I took his arm and hauled him off the stool, pulling him after me into the office behind the bar. I pushed the door shut and pulled out my phone. Alex's number rang half a dozen times and then went to voicemail. "Alex, honey, where are you?" I said urgently. "Look, I know what Sam said to you, just ignore him, I'm not going anywhere. Call me please, as soon as you get this?" I ended the call and then called the house. Azaria picked up the phone. "Hi sweetie, is Alex there?" I asked hopefully. "No? No, no it's okay, if she turns up ask her to call me would you? Thanks. I'll see you soon."

I put my phone back in my jeans pocket and leaned on the edge of the desk. "Well thanks a lot Sam. That's been very helpful." I said sarcastically.

Poor Sam looked really upset at the devastation he had wrought. "I'm really, really sorry Bill. What can I do to help?" he asked.

"Nothing I'm afraid." I sighed. "She'll come home, she just needs some time to think." As I said it I realised that I wasn't sure if I was trying to convince Sam or myself.

Sam insisted on giving me his phone number and the address of his Hotel in case there was anything he could do before I went home. I almost managed to convince myself that Alex would be waiting for me, but she wasn't. When she hadn't got back by about four in the morning I had to force myself not to call all her friends. The last thing I remember was sitting up in bed, my ears pricked, straining to hear her car in the lane.

I woke at dusk to find myself still alone. I grabbed a bathrobe and ran upstairs, checking every room, but there was no sign of her. I went into the lounge and picked up my phone from the table where I had thrown it in frustration last night after leaving two more messages. There were no missed calls, no messages. I called her number again. No one answered but I could hear something. At first I thought it was the house phone, but then I realised that it was coming from the sofa. I pulled up a couple of cushions and unearthed Alex's phone! "No!...no, no, no!" I sat down with both phones in my hands and tried to calm down as I felt for her through the bond. At least I could feel her, so she couldn't have done anything too drastic, like leave the country. But I could also feel her misery, a dull cold unhappiness and I realised that what I had felt last night must have been her pain and shock when Sam had suggested that she should let me go.

Two nights later I had still had no word from her. I had tried to remain calm and give her time but after the first night I had grown frantic with worry and called all her friends demanding information. However no-one knew where she was. Or at least, if they did, they wouldn't tell me. All her possessions were still at the house. I checked them obsessively as soon as I woke each evening, afraid that she would have returned while I slept and cleared everything out. I had called the bank and found that the account we had opened for the money from the sale of her house was still open. My name was also on the account so they were able to tell me that the money was still there. At least she had access to it if she needed it. I could think of nothing else to do but wait.

I warmed a bottle of Tru Blood in the microwave, went out onto the terrace and sat, looking miserably out over the hillside, on the couch where Alex and I had sat so often in the past. Azaria knew enough to stay out of my way when I was in this mood. I took a sip from the bottle of Tru Blood and put it back down on the little round wrought iron table that Alex had bought. The one that she used to put her wineglass down on when she was engrossed in a book, curled up on this sofa. Everything I saw, everything I touched in this house reminded me of her. As I sat there a shadow passed over me and I looked up, startled. An owl flew over the terrace and floated silently away down the hillside. I watched it for a moment and suddenly I heard Alex's voice in my head... "_Gwynwyfar, the white owl_".

I jumped up off the couch, jarring the little table and knocking over the bottle, the synthetic blood dripping unnoticed onto the flags of the terrace at my feet. "Of course!" I said aloud. "How could I have been so stupid!" I knew now where she must be. What had she called her? "My refuge from the world!"

An hour later I was standing beside the car looking down over the little marina in the moonlight. Everything looked the same as it had on that night that Alex had brought me here, trusting me with the knowledge of her secret, her refuge. Boats were lined up neatly at the pontoons, but hers was not here. I got back into the car and drove to the little village a few miles away where we had left the boat tied up when we came back to civilization, to my appearance on TV. When I had admitted to a vast audience that I loved her. Perhaps it was only now that I was discovering what that meant. I parked the car in the village and walked down to the canal, along the path we had taken that day. But again there was nothing. The place where Lady Eleanor had been moored was empty.

I tried to feel for her again through the blood bond but, although I could sense her, I got no idea of direction. I was puzzled by this, I hadn't had this trouble before, when I searched for her in Egypt. But then...she had wanted me to find her, she had been actively trying to contact me. I felt a cold pain grip my heart at the thought that perhaps, subconciously, she didn't want to be found.

I sighed and glanced down and as I did so I caught sight of something in the grass, a gleam of gold. I crouched down and picked it up. It was an earring. A tiny gold stud in the shape of a rose. Alex's earring. How many times had I seen her wearing this? How many times had my lips brushed over it as I kissed her? I stood up thoughtfully, looking around. Lady Eleanor was almost seventy feet long, she couldn't possibly be turned around here, the canal was far too narrow, so there was only one way she could have gone. I put the earring carefully in my pocket and began to run up the towpath.


	3. Chapter 3

I had left my car in the village and walked down to the canal where Lady Eleanor was moored in a daze. Since I had sold the house I couldn't think of anywhere else to go. When I thought about it later I was astonished that I had made it this far. I actually couldn't remember driving here! I really must pull myself together, this could get dangerous. Fortunately all the boat's door keys were on my car key ring and the ignition key was in a cupboard on board. I probably shouldn't keep it there really, I thought, but the fact that it was attached to a large ball of cork (just in case it fell into the canal!) meant that it was too bulky to keep in my handbag. I sat down in the main cabin, just staring into space, wondering what I should do. Perhaps I should leave Bill a message, he would surely be wondering where I was by now. I burrowed in my handbag but to my dismay, my phone wasn't there. I tossed the bag onto the small couch and headed back to the stern, my head felt too dull to worry about it now. I pulled the hatch closed and locked it then walked into the bedroom and climbed, fully clothed onto the bed where I fell into an emotionally exhausted sleep.

I woke mid-morning with a headache and climbed off the bed with a groan, staggering into the bathroom where I peeled off my clothes and stood under the shower for a while. The water was cool as I hadn't switched the heater on last night and I suddenly realised that I didn't know how much water I had left. I cursed and switched off the shower, climbing out and drying myself off. I pulled on some dry clothes, fortunately I kept some on board, and then headed into the galley and put some coffee on. I had to drink it black as I had no milk but it was better than nothing.

After downing a few aspirins with my coffee I put some shoes on and headed up into the village for some supplies. On my return I got out the map book to look for the nearest water point where I could refill the tank. There was one a few miles up the canal and some good moorings nearby where I could spend the next night. I found myself examining the map closely, checking the number of locks between here and my destination and I realised that I was trying to keep myself busy, to keep my mind from returning to the image of Bill's face. To that look of desperate hope in his eyes when he thought that his path back to Sookie might be clear. I couldn't bear to think of that. I snapped the book closed and headed to the cockpit to start the engine.

I was used to driving the boat and working the locks on my own, but that's not to say that it's easy. I met a few other boats at locks which were coming the other way and whose crews were kind enough to help me by opening and shutting the gates, but by the time I reached the water point I was worn out and my arms and shoulders were aching from winding sluices and holding the tiller pole. I heaved up the lid of the bench seat in the bows and pulled out the hosepipe. Why is it do you suppose that, however carefully you wind up a hosepipe, the next time you look at it, it's tied itself into knots? I kicked it angrily onto the towpath, taking out some of the frustration I was feeling, unfastened the cap off the water tank and hauled the end of the hosepipe over to the tap. I painstakingly untangled it and switched the tap on to flush it through. After pushing the end through the hole in the forward deck into the tank I collapsed into a folding chair in the sun and watched until the water began to pour out of the overflow.

I'm not sure if it's the taps or the width of the hose but the tank always takes three times as long to fill as I think it will and I had almost dropped off to sleep in the sun when I heard the trickle of water over the side of the boat that told me my tank was full. I got up, stretching as I walked over to the tap and turned it off. I carefully coiled up the hosepipe and put it back in the locker, threatening it with dire consequences if it tangled itself up again.

There were some mooring rings about a hundred feet or so up the towpath and I looked over at them for a moment, considering how to get there. It didn't seem worth the effort of casting off and driving the boat up there, so I decided to just haul her along the bank. I untied the centre line which had held her to the bank while I filled up the tank and laid the rope along the roof, the end hanging down into the cockpit within easy reach. Then I hopped up into the cockpit. I had left the engine running to charge up the batteries so I just pushed the gear lever forward to engage the propeller and hopped off again. The engine note changed slightly as the prop began to turn and she began to move slowly alongside the bank. I flicked the rope back off the roof and walked alongside her, pulling on the fingerless cycling gloves that I kept on board to protect the palms of my hands from the rope I was holding to keep her in to the bank. As I walked I noticed a smartly dressed woman walking down the towpath with a terrier on a lead. She smiled at me as we passed and I couldn't help but smile at the contrast. Her walking in one direction holding a lead with a tiny dog on the end of it and me walking in the other direction holding a rope with a seventy foot boat on the end of it! I was still giggling to myself as I hopped back on board and flicked the gear lever back into neutral so that Lady Eleanor slid gently to a halt alongside the mooring rings. In a few minutes she was tied up neatly and I was relaxing on board with a much needed coffee.

Later that night I lay in bed awake. I was trying not to think of Bill, but I couldn't help it. He was awake now and I could feel him, sense that he was worried and upset but I was unable to tell whether it was my absence which had upset him, or Sam's news about Sookie. Maybe I should try to find a payphone in the next village and call him, I thought. The confused mixture of emotions were still in my head as I drifted off to sleep. I woke several hours later with a start and sat up, my heart pounding. Something had woken me, I sat still listening carefully, but I couldn't hear anything. I had almost convinced myself that I had merely suffered a bad dream when I felt something. It was something like feeling Bill through the blood bond, but it wasn't him. Something was coming, and it was something bad. I sat, silent and still, feeling it come closer. Suddenly I realised what it was. I was somehow feeling another vampire, he was coming down the towpath towards me. I held my breath as he passed the boat and I felt him pause for a moment, as if he had heard something, my heartbeat? Then he moved on and the feeling faded away.

After a moment or two I began to breathe again and I was suddenly really frightened. I had travelled the waterways for years, stopping way out in the countryside, feeling perfectly secure but now I realised that the bolts and padlocks which kept me safe from any human intruder would pose no barrier at all to a vampire! I was certainly aware that not all vampires were like Bill. There were those who did not agree with The Revelation, who still kept to the old ways. What if this stretch of towpath was someone's hunting ground? I resolved to move on first thing in the morning and find somewhere with other boats around to moor up for the night in future. I lay awake for a while feeling Bill's faint distracted worry until I fell back into an uneasy slumber.

The next day I got up as soon as it was light enough to move and headed off further down the canal. By mid-afternoon I had come to a junction with some good moorings on the far side where several other boats were already tied up. I eased Lady Eleanor up behind the last boat and fastened the lines to the mooring rings feeling a little safer in the knowledge that there were, at least, other people around me. I had not passed anywhere which looked like it would have a public telephone so I had been unable to call Bill and let him know where I was, if he was even interested any more, I thought bitterly. No, that was unfair. I could feel his distress through the bond and, although I could not be sure I thought that it might be due to my sudden departure. My usual decisive nature appeared to have deserted me entirely. I simply could not decide what to do, my emotions swung from being convinced that Bill was worried about me to being equally convinced that his worry was for Sookie. I told myself firmly that I would find a payphone tomorrow and call him. I would really! But I was so afraid of what he might say...

I gave a sigh and shook myself, going hungry wasn't going to help me that was certain. I closed up the rear hatch, chasing an inquisitive duck off the roof, and opened the side hatch in the galley and began to cook myself a meal, the familiar actions taking my mind off Bill. I simply couldn't think what to do for the best. It wasn't as if I didn't want to fight to keep him, I did! I loved him, I knew that now more than ever as the prospect of losing him terrified me. But I knew it would do me no good, how can you fight the memory of a lost love? I was standing in the galley frying onions and trying not to think of him when a voice close by said "Hi!" I jumped, shocked and looked around to see a girl standing on the towpath and looking in through the hatch. "Sorry!" she said "Did I startle you? I should have made more noise!"

She had a great big grin on her face and I couldn't help smiling back, she was wearing a long patterned skirt and a lacy blouse with a leather waistcoat over the top and tough looking Doc Marten boots, one of which was resting on the gunwale of my boat as she leaned in through the side hatch. Her hair was gelled up into spikes around her head and dyed half pink and half blue. "Gosh those onions smell good!" she said "There's nothing like the smell of frying onions is there?"

I smiled up at her "That's very true" I said.

"Well, Hi again! I'm Sandi. Mind if I sit down?" She swung herself in through the hatch and sat on the gunwale of the boat with her legs hanging down into the galley in front of the ladder. "Me and the boys are on "Kingfisher" a couple of boats down." She waved vaguely down the towpath. "We saw you arrive just now, looks like you're on your own?"

"Um…Hi" I said, stirring the onions and then turning back to her. "I'm Alex, and yes I'm on my own. Would you pass me the salt please?" I pointed to a salt cellar on the shelf on the far side of the hatch. Sandi reached up and picked it up. As she passed it to me her fingers brushed mine and I felt as if I had received a sudden shock. I blinked and a clear image of a wolf came into my mind, but I had no idea why or what it was related to.

"Are you okay?" she asked, looking a little worried. I looked into her eyes and I knew somehow, I just knew what she was.

"Fine thanks" I answered, shaking the pan to move the onions around in the hot oil. "You and the boys?" I said, raising my eyebrows slightly.

"Me, my two brothers and Tom, my boyfriend. We live on board" she said with another grin.

I looked at her speculatively for a moment. "So, Sandi, are you going to tell me what you are?" I asked.

She paused for a fraction of a second before giving a careless little laugh and I knew I was right. "Whatever do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, you're certainly not human are you?" I said quietly.

She sat silently watching me for a moment and then said in a low voice "what do you know about me and, more to the point, how? What are you?" I watched her and gave a little smile. "You're a werewolf?" I asked.

She actually jerked back from me, completely shocked. "How'd you know that?" she asked. "You're human right? How do you know about us at all?"

"I…..I used to date a vampire" I explained. "He told me a bit about…..well, other supernatural creatures." She seemed to relax a little at this evidence that I was part of their world, if only peripherally.

"But how did you know I was one?" she asked again. "How could you tell?"

I stood with the wooden spoon in my hand for a moment thinking. How had I known? "I'm not sure really. But when you touched me I knew."

She sat in the open hatchway watching me for a moment and then sighed. "Well, you're right" she admitted. "We all are. But no-one else here knows about us."

"Fine!" I said quickly, "I won't tell anyone. So was there something you wanted or do you come and welcome everyone?"

"Well no, actually I don't, but Tom noticed when you were mooring up that you seemed to be on your own and I thought I should warn you to be careful. There have been a few odd things happening lately around here. Carl found a girl walking down the towpath the other day with a half healed vampire bite, but she had no idea how she'd got here. And just this afternoon we heard that a woman from a hire boat a few miles away was found dead in the canal. Her husband found her, he heard her little dog barking on the towpath."

"A dog?" I asked. "Not a little terrier?"

"Yeah, a border terrier, that's what we heard."

I dropped the spoon into the pan, my hands were shaking suddenly and I felt cold. The woman with the dog that I'd passed by the water point yesterday. We had smiled at each other, just passed by, and now she was dead.

I looked back to see Sandi watching me with a hard expression. "You sure your boyfriend's not with you?" she asked.

"No, he….." I stopped suddenly. "You think it's him! Oh no, he's not here really, and anyway, he'd never do anything like that!"

"Right!" said Sandi cynically, getting up "that's what they all say though, isn't it?" She stood up and turned back to her boat. "Take care then." She said as she walked away.

I finished cooking myself a meal and ate it while watching a DVD on the old laptop I kept locked up on the boat. I sat up for a while with a drink, watching the movie and then went to bed early.

It was about 3am when I woke suddenly, knowing that someone was outside, for a moment I panicked, remembering the dead woman and the vampire I had felt the previous night, but this time when I felt through the bond I realised that it was Bill! I sat up and peeped out through the curtain over the porthole just in time to see a pair of boots and the bottoms of a pair of jeans walking silently down the towpath towards the bows. I sat still and, sure enough, in a moment I felt a slight movement of the boat and I knew that Bill had climbed on board and was sitting quietly in the bows, waiting.

I felt my heart begin to beat faster as I suddenly realised that I was afraid to face him, afraid of what he might say to me. If he meant to leave I knew that he would tell me. He was not the sort of man who would simply run away, he would have the courage to face me and tell me it was over, so the fact that he was here meant nothing. I knew he would let me know his decision, whatever it was and I was suddenly terrified that he had come to say goodbye. I took a deep breath, pulled on my dressing gown and walked slowly down the length of the boat to the bow doors, drawing the curtain back carefully just to be sure that it really was him.

He was sitting on the bench seat wearing jeans and a leather jacket, his pale skin glowing in the moonlight, his brilliant blue eyes glittering as I looked up at him. I thought that I had never seen anything more beautiful in my life. How could I have ever thought that I could hold the love of a man like that? I blinked away the tears I felt forming in my eyes and dropped the curtain, unbolting the door and opening it for him.

"May I come in?" he asked quietly.

"Of course" I said, turning away. I heard him step down into the cabin and then felt his arm slip around my waist. He turned me towards him and suddenly he was kissing me. I thought I heard him whisper something about missing me but I had to be certain. I pulled back out of his arms and asked the question I feared to have answered. "Have you made your decision?"


	4. Chapter 4

I had been running for a surprising distance when I came to a junction. With a sinking heart I realised that she could have gone in either direction, or even turned the boat around and gone back the way I had come. The path I had come along ended in a small arched bridge over the canal at the junction and I stepped up onto the bridge for a better view. To the right the canal was empty but on the left a few hundred yards down the towpath were half a dozen moored boats. One was the right colour. I breathed a short prayer and headed down the towpath. I gave a sigh of relief as I came up behind the boat and read the name painted on the cockpit beneath the roses and castles pattern. "Lady Eleanor".

The rear doors and the hatch were locked and the boat was dark and silent. But then, it was three o'clock in the morning and Alex was asleep. I stood on the towpath next to the cabin where I knew she slept. When I put my hand on the metal bulkhead I could feel her, sleeping inches away from me. I felt her stir and I knew she could feel me too, she knew that I was nearby. I walked up the towpath to the bow of the boat and climbed in, settling down on the bench seat outside the locked doors to wait.

After a minute or two the curtains over the doors were drawn back and Alex peered out cautiously. I felt the corners of my mouth curl up in a little smile at the sight of her. She had a silk robe wrapped around her and her dark hair was tousled from sleep. I felt a powerful urge to rip the locked doors apart and catch her up into my arms but I made myself simply sit quietly and watch her as she let the curtain fall back and unlocked the doors.

"May I come in?" I asked.

"Of course" she said, moving back from the door. She was holding her robe closed with one hand and her hair back from her face with the other. As she turned away I stepped down into the cabin behind her and slipped my arm around her waist. Turning her towards me I brushed my lips gently over hers before she could say anything. She made no move to stop me so I pulled her closer and kissed her properly.

"Oh Alex I've missed you so much!" I whispered. "Please don't ever do that again."

She pulled away from me and said quietly "have you made your decision?"

"What decision?" I asked "There's no decision to make!" I pulled her back into my arms and sat down in the armchair with her in my lap. Her body felt distractingly warm and soft under the robe. "Look, I know Sam gave you the impression that I was going to rush back to Sookie, but I'm not! I'm here, with you!" I kissed her again. "Why didn't you wait darling? Why didn't you talk to me straight away?"

She sat quietly on my lap with her arms comfortably around my neck and gazed into my eyes as if trying to read my thoughts. "It was what Sam said" she sighed "that if I loved you, I'd let you go. I know how you feel about her, Bill. I felt that the least I could do was to give you some time and space to make such an important decision."

"I had plenty of time!" I said. "It took me all of five seconds! Why on earth would you think I needed more time? What even made you think she would want me back?"

"I was in the corridor, I was watching you in the mirror when you came out of the office and spoke to Sam. I saw your face Bill," she said bleakly "you wanted to believe it."

I stared back at her. I knew that what I said to her next could have the potential to damage our relationship forever, but I had promised that I would always be honest with her and I trusted her. "Yes," I answered quietly "A part of me wanted to believe it was true. But it isn't, I know that. I know him and I know her. He'll get bored with his new wife and want her back. He'll persuade the Queen that her skills could be useful to them, then he'll persuade Sookie that the marriage was just one of convenience. A political marriage, that he really loves her. And she'll believe him, she always does. And she'll go back to him. And that would kill me. I couldn't do that again, risk my heart like that. And why would I, when I have you?"

I sat back in the armchair and watched her face. "I won't lie to you Alex, there was a time when I would have gone back. I wouldn't have cared that I was her second choice. I didn't believe that I deserved anything better, that I deserved to be loved. But I do now. I don't deserve to be treated like that. And neither do you." I reached for her hand. "Alex, sweetheart, if Sam had told me that Eric had met the true death I still wouldn't have gone, I couldn't leave you!"

"You're sure?" she asked hesitantly.

"Sure?" I laughed "Do you think I've spent the last three days agonising over a decision? The minute I realised that you'd left I forgot about her. Ever since I found that you'd not returned home I've thought about nothing else but you." I pulled her back into my arms. "I couldn't think about anything else but you, couldn't feel anything else but your unhappiness. I tried to be calm and sensible and wait for you but I just couldn't do it!"

She gave me a tiny little smile and my poor old, dead heart leapt to see it. "I'm sorry I didn't contact you" she said apologetically "but I seem to have lost my phone."

I laughed again and pulled it from my pocket. "I know!" I said. "I only left three messages before I found it down the back of the sofa!" I carefully brought out the earring and held it out. "You lost this too."

Her beautiful grey eyes lit up. "Oh Bill, you found it! Where was it?"

"It was lying on the grass by the towpath, where the boat was moored. That's where I started looking." I pulled the little gold stop off the back and gently eased the stud into the tiny hole in her earlobe, leaning forward to pop the back on again. I found my head beside hers and took the opportunity to kiss her just under the ear. She turned her head and her soft mouth found mine. I slipped my hand around the back of her head and held her to me while I kissed her with all the pent up emotion of the last few days. To my delight I felt her push her hands up into my hair and pull my face to hers as she kissed me back with an equal passion.

"Oh Bill!" she murmured "I was so afraid I'd lost you."

"Never!" I whispered, "never going to happen! Well, not unless you run so far that I can't find you." I tightened my grip on her "and I don't plan to let that happen either."

In order to put her arms around my neck she had let go of the front of her robe and it had fallen open. I couldn't resist slipping a hand inside and across her silky skin, still warm from sleep. I felt a little shiver run through her at my touch. "Mmm….sorry" I murmured "my hands are cold."

"That wasn't the reason..." she whispered as she leaned forward to kiss me again. She pushed her knees into the cushions of the armchair on either side of my hips and her body simply melted into my arms. I felt a rush of feelings hit me through the bond, joy, relief, love, tangled together into a confusing, but incredibly powerful flood of emotion. It poured into me in a torrent, her fear of losing me, her relief at my decision, her love for me, I had never felt anything so intense before even at the height of our passion.

I thought of everything she had done for me. She trusted me completely and had given herself to me unconditionally. She was even prepared to give me space and time to make the decision to leave her if that was what I wanted. How could I possibly have considered leaving her, even for a second?

"So you forgive me?" I whispered.

"There's nothing to forgive is there?" she asked. She placed her warm, soft hands on either side of my face and stared down into my eyes. "Don't think you can take me for granted Bill" she said quietly. "Don't think that I wouldn't fight for what I want. You know I would, God help anyone who tries to take you from me. But if you want to leave, well that's different. I won't waste my time fighting for someone who doesn't want me any more. I have too much self respect for that. If you wanted to leave I'd let you go, no matter how much it hurt!"

I gazed up into her eyes and for a moment I felt as though I was falling, being drawn into her eyes, as though she had glamoured me. "No-one will ever take me from you Alex, I promise you that." I pulled her face down to mine and kissed her again, thinking of how much I had changed since that fateful day when we had met. And as I did so I realised that I had done the very same thing that I had accused Sookie of doing. I had been in love with someone who didn't exist any longer, except in my imagination. That charming naïve girl who had rushed up to me in Sam's bar that night, eager to meet her first vampire. Who had given herself to me as her first lover. Yes, I loved her and I always would, but she wasn't that person any more. Being dragged into our world and all that she had suffered since had changed her and my guilt for being a part of that would never leave me, but she was different now. The Sookie I loved was the Sookie I remembered from those early days, a girl who existed now only in my memory.

If there is one thing that we learn in our long existence, it is the ability to put the past behind us. To move on. I resolved then that I would move on, truly. Sookie was part of my past. Alex was the present and I dared not risk losing her. She did not deserve to be cast aside for a memory.

I held her tight in my arms kissing every inch of her body that I could reach. She knelt on top of me leaning down to kiss me, her tousled hair falling over her face and mine too. Her soft sweet mouth closed over mine and I felt a comfortable peace flow over me. She was mine and I would never willingly let her go. The thought that she would have let me return to Bon Temps without her gave me a slight pang of guilt. I was far from sure that I would have the courage and the generosity to do the same in her position.

Her robe had fallen open and her soft, warm, nude body pressed against mine felt wonderful. I probed her lips with my tongue and she parted them slightly allowing me entry, the symbolism of her action not lost on either of us. I slipped my tongue between her lips and began to gently stroke hers, rubbing the tip of my tongue over it in a familiar rhythm. She gave a soft moan and raised herself up on her knees, leaning forward slightly over my hips and rubbing her body against me like a little cat.

I could feel myself responding to her, all my muscles tightening, pulling her closer, hardening, my body readying itself for her. I was unsure, at first, if Alex was ready for this, if she had truly forgiven me, if she still doubted my love for her and so I tried to hold back, to give her a chance to pull back from me if she wished to. But she didn't. I slipped my hand along her smooth thigh and eased my fingers into the warmth between her legs and I knew then that she wanted me as much as I wanted her.

I smiled up at her and stood up with her warm body wrapped around me.

"I think we should find somewhere a little more comfortable" I murmured softly. "I want to take my time with you, I want to give you more pleasure than you've ever felt before, I want to hear you moan my name, plead with me…." I brushed her ear with my lips as I whispered my soft promises into it and began to carry her back down the boat towards her sleeping cabin.

I made it as far as the galley. We had to stop as the short corridor into the cabin was too narrow for me to carry her so I lifted her and placed her carefully down on the counter next to the corridor. She pulled her arms from around my neck and reached down to the buckle of my belt with a mischievous little grin. "Oh you do, huh?" she whispered, her slim, quick fingers unfastening the buckle and tugging down the zipper.

"Oh, Alex! Don't do that!" I laughed, "you bad girl!"

"Hmm…..want to take it slowly do you?" she asked sliding her hand down my stomach and into the front of my jeans, her questing fingers curling around me. I gave a gasp as my already hard member seemed to leap into her hand of its own accord, her other hand was pushing down on the waistband of my jeans, easing them down over my hips and allowing my stiff shaft to emerge. She trailed her long fingernails gently over it, staring into my eyes as she did so. "Still want to take it slowly?" she asked, her voice husky with suppressed desire.

"Think I've changed my mind….." I growled out the words as I picked her up by the hips and spun around pushing her back against the bulkhead. She put her hands on my shoulders and braced herself against me, lifting her legs and wrapping them around my hips, positioning her wet entrance directly over me. I paused for a moment and looked into her eyes, still needing to be sure of her.

"Yes Bill…..please" she whispered, her soft lips brushing mine as she leaned down to kiss me. I fastened my mouth on hers and slipped my tongue between her lips as I pushed my full length up into her. She gave a tiny little cry and I felt her thighs tighten around me as I began to move inside her pushing her back harder against the wood panelled bulkhead with each stroke. I slipped one hand up into her hair to protect her head as I drove myself up into her soft, wet, warmth, the friction of our bodies driving both of us wild with a shared desire. I pulled my mouth from hers with an effort and held her head against my shoulder. I could feel, rather than hear, the little gasping cry she gave with each stroke, becoming faster and more desperate as her climax approached. I slowed a little, trying to hold back my own release, but her cries became more urgent and suddenly I felt her flesh clutching at me as waves of contractions raced through the core of her body, squeezing me, the delicious pressure making me groan with pleasure as my own climax burst into her.

I leaned against the bulkhead my legs trembling slightly, her slight weight around my hips feeling warm and soft. "Okay!" she panted "comfortable sounds good." She gave me a slow languorous smile. "You can slow it down a little now if you like."

I put her down carefully and looked down at her, "You are a wicked, wicked girl, you know that don't you?" I murmured.

"Mmm….yes I know" she whispered "but you like it though don't you? You like it when I show you how much I want you?" She reached for my hand and drew it up to her lips, kissing my knuckles and licking and sucking gently at my fingers. The silk robe slipped off her shoulders and into a scarlet puddle on the floor at her feet and she turned away from me and walked down the narrow corridor to the sleeping cabin. I stood and admired the sight of her swaying bottom for a moment and then wriggled out of my jeans and followed her.

The edge of the high bed came almost to my hips to make room for the substantial storage space beneath, the space where I had slept when we had last been together on Lady Eleanor. I paused, pulling my shirt off over my head as she raised her knee and began to climb up onto the bed. I smiled to myself and waited deliberately until she took her foot off the floor. As soon as she was off balance I slipped my arm around her waist to hold her steady and stepped up behind her, pushing myself gently between her thighs. She gave a little squeak of surprise and then leaned back into me, enabling me to nuzzle into her hair and kiss the back of her neck. I stood there for a moment holding her soft, yielding body against me, my knees braced against the side of the bed, breathing in her scent, a mixture of the flowery perfume of her hair and the smell of her skin, warm from sleep.

I rubbed my rapidly hardening shaft between her soft thighs, feeling her muscles tighten instinctively, squeezing against me deliciously, then I lifted her up onto the bed before I could get carried away with the smooth sensation of her skin sliding over mine. She rolled over onto her back as I put one knee on the bed and lifted myself up. I knelt for a moment astride her, just looking down into her eyes, then I bent over her and gently kissed the little hollow at the base of her throat, trailing my tongue down to her breasts. Easing my body down beside her I took one breast in my hand, delighting in its soft weight in my palm, and bent my head to the other, pulling the nipple into my mouth and suckling gently on it, the tips of my fangs just grazing her flesh.

Releasing her breasts I ran my fingers and my tongue down each side of her belly, heading for the tiny triangle of dark fur between her thighs. She gave a little sigh and shifted her hips slightly, placing her hands on my shoulders and pushing gently, encouraging me to continue my exploration. I slipped my hand between her legs, carefully parted her already wet folds with my fingers and pushed the tip of my tongue across her swollen bud, the scent and taste of myself in this most secret place arousing me still further. I continued to lap at her wetness until I felt her back begin to arch and her fingers dig into the muscles of my shoulders. She gave a little cry as I drew back and trailed my tongue down the inside of her thigh, feeling the artery pulsing beneath the skin. I could feel her heart speed up as I placed my lips on her soft skin and kissed the spot I had chosen to feed from.

I pressed the tips of my fangs to the spot and as I felt Alex give a little sigh I knew she wanted this too. I could hold back no longer, I needed to taste her. Holding her thigh with one hand I bit down into her, my razor sharp fangs slicing through her soft flesh until they reached their goal and a rush of hot blood filled my mouth. I fastened my lips over the wound and drank greedily for a few moments, before tearing my mouth away with an effort. Watching lazily as Alex shuddered beneath me I licked at my lips, savouring the delicious taste, astonished that I had to will to stop. As I lay there, my tongue licking slowly at the tiny wounds, gathering up every trace of her blood I became aware of a tickling sensation on my skin. It felt as if cool water was trickling over my shoulders and down my back to my buttocks. I dragged my drowsy thoughts away from Alex's flesh with an effort and looked up.

My arms were resting on her thighs, my hands on her waist, her hands were gripping my shoulders and over both of us ran streams of flickering blue light, showing up clearly in the darkness of the cabin.

"Alex" I whispered.

"Mmm…Oh please don't stop!" she sighed, her closed eyes turned to the low ceiling.

"Alex!" I hissed urgently.

Her eyes snapped open and she looked down at me. "Oh…."

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Fine" she whispered, "you?"

I relaxed a little. "Do you feel anything?"

"No, nothing" she said softly.

I ran my hand across her stomach watching the light flow from her skin to mine. It felt cool as though water was running over her body. I pulled her closer to me and we watched in silent wonder as Alex's fae magic flowed over our entwined bodies.

Several hours later we lay in the twisted sheets, our limbs tangled together, highlighted with the flickering light, both of us at that peak of arousal where every touch is almost unbearable. I could feel the beast within me rising up, urging me to take her, to mark her as mine. I had bitten her more times than I could remember, sinking my fangs deep into her soft flesh and feeling her shudder with pleasure at each penetration. Taking only a mouthful each time, my restraint becoming harder and harder to bear with each passing moment. I gave her my blood as well over and over until I was unable to separate the feelings, the emotions, the pleasure we were feeling. It was mine and it was also hers. It had become one.

When I could bear the ache in my loins no longer and finally entered her again it seemed like only moments before both our bodies convulsed together in a final release.

* * *

Some time towards dawn we lay tangled together on the tiny bed in the rear cabin. Bill lay on his back with me tucked into the crook of his arm, my head resting on his muscular chest. I lay quietly in his arms, breathing in his familiar scent, a mixture of his cologne and that faint musky scent which I associated with Bill. A thought suddenly struck me.

"You weren't around here last night were you?" I asked, my voice slightly muffled by his body.

He turned his head and looked down at me curiously. "No, of course not! I'd have come on board. Why do you ask?" he said.

"I felt something, last night. Another vampire coming down the towpath. I knew it wasn't you but I just wondered…."

Bill sat up looking concerned. "You felt him? How? You've not had blood from anyone else?"

"Oh no!" I said quickly, "It wasn't like that, not the way I can feel you. But somehow I just knew something was coming, something bad, and when it passed I knew what it was."

Bill stared at me thoughtfully for a moment. "You knew straight away what I was too" he pointed out. "Most humans can't tell so easily. It must be something to do with the fae blood, it makes you sensitive to us."

Hmm…..that would make sense I suppose" I said. "If the fae were driven from this world by vampires it would be some kind of defence mechanism."

Bill's eyes gleamed in the darkness as he turned his intent gaze on me again. "What makes you say that?" he asked quietly. "I've never said that the fae were driven out by vampires."

"Oh! Aislynn told me. You remember, she came to me in the park in London on the day before Lazlo's trial?" I looked up at him curiously, he had that blank expression he wears when he doesn't want me to know what he's thinking. "It's true though isn't it? You've said yourself that my blood is special, that's why they left. They were hunted by vampires, for their blood."

I felt his arm tighten around me instinctively and he gave a little sigh. "As I understand it, yes" he whispered. "I'd only heard stories though. Until I met Sookie I didn't know that the fae still existed. Most vampires believe that they are extinct." He looked down at me, "But I've heard tales, from the older ones. Stories of vampires drunk on fae blood." His voice had changed slightly, becoming colder and darker somehow. "Her blood was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted, and yours is the same" he leaned down and kissed me gently. "I can only imagine what the blood of a full fae would taste like."

I shivered at his tone and he relaxed and smiled down at me. "But I guess I'll never find out! You're more than enough for me." Suddenly he sat up a little, "so what exactly happened last night?"

"Well, nothing really" I said, feeling a little lame. "I woke up feeling terrified, I thought at first that I'd had a nightmare but then I realised that I could still feel….whatever it was. It came down the towpath and paused for a moment outside the boat, as if it could feel me too, and then it moved on. I moved the boat up here the next day, where there are more people. I thought that I was too vulnerable out in the countryside alone. I wasn't sure if he could get on board without an invitation, the locks certainly wouldn't stop him. What do you think?"

Bill thought for a moment. "I'm not sure" he said. "Every time I've been on board you've invited me, you're too polite! We're not really sure ourselves how the threshold thing works, but it has to be a home. There's no threshold on public buildings or buildings that are not lived in, not in the magical sense anyway. I have no idea if it would apply to a boat, you don't really live on her do you? We'll have to try it." He looked back at me. "You thought he sensed you as well?"

"Well, he seemed to pause outside the boat for a moment, but I guess it could have been a co-incidence, he might have just stopped to look at it, it was the only boat on that stretch of canal. It scared me though, I thought he must have been hunting, what else would he be doing way out here?"

"You're saying he. You think it was male?" asked Bill.

"Um….yes" I replied, after a moment's consideration. "I've no idea why though. That was just what I thought at the time. Is that what he was doing Bill? Why else would he be out here."

"Yes, probably" said Bill thoughtfully.

"But why out here?" I asked, genuinely puzzled. "Surely it would be easier to pick up some fangbanger in a club or glamour someone? There would be so many more people to choose from."

Bill began to look distinctly uncomfortable. He lay back stroking my hair absently and said "Well, there are those who don't wish to do that. Who find that there is little pleasure for them in feeding on those who offer themselves willingly or in using glamour to procure a meal. Not enough….. excitement. For some, the excitement, the pleasure, comes from the victim's fear. It's almost as if they feed on that as well as the blood, the terror." He paused for a moment. "For one such as that, somewhere like this would be an ideal hunting ground, quiet, out of the way, lonely and with few people around. You were lucky!"

"Luckier than you think" I said sadly. "A woman was found wandering by the canal the other day with a vampire bite and yesterday another woman was found dead in the canal. I'd even seen her walking her dog while I was filling up the water tank."

Bill sat up again suddenly and grasped me by the shoulders. "Someone was killed? By this vampire? Someone you knew?" he asked, shocked.

"Well, no. I didn't know her. I just saw her walking her dog along the towpath. She was found dead but I don't know how she died. Someone from one of the other boats apparently found a girl wandering along the canal, but she didn't know how she got there. He said she had a half healed vampire bite and that sounds to me like she had been glamoured, don't you think?"

"It certainly sounds like it" said Bill sounding worried.

"So maybe Sandi and the werewolves were right!" I said thoughtfully.

Bill gave a short bark of laughter.

"What?" I asked.

"Sandi and the werewolves?" he said incredulously. "Sounds like a bad punk rock band!"

I hit him with a pillow, giggling. "Stop that! This is serious" I said, trying not to smile. "Sandi is the girl from "Kingfisher" one of the other boats. She came over to talk to me while I was cooking myself dinner last night. They noticed that I was alone and wanted to warn me to be careful."

"They?" asked Bill.

"Herself, her two brothers and her boyfriend she said."

"And they're weres" he asked "how do you know?"

"Oh Bill! I'm too tired for this" I said wearily "I don't know! I asked her to pass me something and when I touched her I….I saw a wolf. I just knew!" I lay down on my stomach and buried my face in the pillows, I just wanted to go to sleep, but I could feel Bill watching me, waiting patiently. I turned my head and looked up. "I asked her" I said simply. "She was very surprised, sure, but she admitted it."

I rolled over and looked up at him. "They seem convinced that a vampire was responsible, and she wasn't too pleased to hear that I was dating one either!"

"Well, it sounds like she's probably right and I'm not surprised she didn't like the idea of me being around. We've never got on with weres, they've always hated and distrusted us." He looked pensive for a moment. "I can't say that I entirely blame them mind you. We don't particularly like or trust them either." He looked down at me and smiled "You go to sleep. Let me worry about it."

I reached out and took his hand rather tentatively. "Will you be…..staying here?"

"You're going to have a hard job getting rid of me!" he said with a smile. "Now just go to sleep darling" he reached over and gently brushed the hair off my face. "I'll see you at dusk, I promise."

I relaxed against him, his cool body feeling strong and safe against me, and drifted off into the first peaceful sleep I'd had in days.

* * *

When I woke I was alone. I sat up in a panic before realising that Bill was in the light tight space he had used before, in the storage space under the mattress. I lay down again, snuggling under the quilt and I could feel him just below me in the narrow space, sleeping as peacefully as I had been. I really wanted to go back to sleep but looking at the clock I saw that it was mid-afternoon again and I badly needed to use the bathroom.

Grumbling to myself I got up and slipped next door into the bathroom. I was hungry too, although not as hungry as I had expected. Although Bill had drunk from me many times the previous night, he had taken very little each time and given almost as much back to me. I headed forward to the galley, picking up my scarlet dressing gown from the floor where it had slipped, unnoticed from my shoulders last night. I ran my fingers gently over the wood panelling on the bulkhead where Bill had held me, smiling to myself at the memory.

After putting some coffee on I wandered up into the main cabin and noticed a note attached to the bow doors with some of the sticky blu tac I used to stop objects falling off the shelves when the boat was moving. I pulled it down and examined it.

_**My Darling Alex**_

_**Don't you dare leave this boat before dusk! We need to talk.**_

_**If I wake and find you gone I won't be responsible for my actions. Sam will certainly be in serious trouble.**_

_**I love you, and I look forward to proving it again soon!**_

_**Bill**_

I smiled to myself and proceeded to ignore his instructions by opening the bow doors and stepping out onto the towpath. It was a bright sunny afternoon and the other few boats looked quiet and empty. I could see that "Kingfisher's" bow doors were open so I assumed that Sandi was on board. I wondered if I should go over and have a word with her. I took a swig of coffee and stepped back on board, I'd better put some clothes on first! However, once I had sat down to finish my coffee, going out again didn't seem so urgent and I relaxed into the old armchair and dropped off to sleep again.

When I awoke it was nearly dusk. I dressed quickly in cargo pants and a loose cotton shirt and climbed back out onto the towpath. Kingfisher's bow doors were still open and as I walked towards her I suddenly became aware of eyes watching me. I heard a low growl which made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. Turning slowly around I saw what appeared to be two large, shaggy dogs emerge onto the towpath from the surrounding bushes. I don't believe I'd ever actually seen a wolf before but as soon as I set eyes on them some kind of primeval switch seemed to flip in my brain and I just knew they weren't dogs. I stood quite still as they advanced, padding purposefully down the towpath, their yellow eyes fixed on me.

Suddenly their eyes left me and they both crouched back a little, snarling, looking at something over my shoulder. I glanced back to see Bill standing on the bench seat in the bows of Lady Eleanor. He had clearly just risen from sleep and was wearing only a pair of blue jeans, his bare feet planted slightly apart on the bench, his body tense. He glared angrily at the two wolves, his fangs bared in a matching snarl and as I watched he leapt lightly up onto the towpath beside me and hissed at them. They paused for a moment looking up at us and then turned and headed for Kingfisher, jumping easily on board and nosing their way in through the half open doors.

"Well, that wasn't very friendly, thanks. I was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable there" I said.

"They frightened you! I could feel it!" hissed Bill, his anger still palpable. He put a hand on my arm and drew me closer to him. "You can never trust werewolves, they're inherently unpredictable, especially in their wolf form." He swept me up into his arms and leaped back down into the boat. He carried me in through the double doors and put me down in the main cabin.

"I'm sorry...perhaps I shouldn't have interfered, but I could feel your fear as I woke up..." he said apologetically. I pulled him to me and kissed him, my tongue curling around his curved fangs, my hands sliding up into his hair. "Please, don't apologise. You were right, I was frightened." I fastened my mouth on his again. "Mmm...let me thank you properly" I breathed, pressing my body against his.

Bill gave a little sigh and pulled away. "I can't believe I'm saying this but although your generous offer of hot sex is exceedingly attractive, we really need to talk. About us, about what happened." He sat down on the couch and pulled me onto his lap.

"Yes, I suppose you're right" I said, settling myself comfortably. "I assume Sam told you what happened at Carmillas?"

"Yes, he did. The only reason I didn't kill him on the spot was because he clearly had no idea who you were" muttered Bill crossly. "Why on earth didn't you tell him?"

"I don't really know" I answered. "I think I'm just a bit wary of strangers knowing about our relationship. I wanted to see what he had to say first. Boy was that a mistake!"

"And when you heard what he had to say, you simply left?" asked Bill. "You ran away because you didn't trust me." I opened my mouth to deny it but he placed a long finger over my lips. "Shhh! Let me finish. You believed Sam, maybe not entirely, but you believed that it was possible. That he might just be right, when he said that I would give up everything I had here to go back to Sookie."

Bill's bright eyes bored into mine as he watched me struggle to think of something to say. He was right. I should have trusted him, but I knew how much he had loved her, how could I have been sure? "I'm sorry Bill, really..." he stopped me again.

"No, don't be sorry, it's not your fault, it's mine." He sighed sadly and a small pink tear appeared in his eye. "I've always told you that I'll be open and honest with you Alex. That's what went wrong between me and Sookie. I kept secrets from her. Things I didn't want her to know, things I thought it would be dangerous for her to know. But it was a mistake. Of course she found out and then she hated me for it and could never really trust me again.

When I met you, when..." he gave a little smile. "Well I promised myself that I would always be honest with you, about my past, about everything. And I was, I told you about Sookie, about how much I loved her and that was why you were unable to trust me completely. Why you thought Sam's assumption was plausible, because you knew I loved her. It's still true, I do love her, but I have come to realise that what I love is not the person she is now, but what she was when I first met her."

He gave a small, sheepish smile. "How sad is that? I'm in love with a memory! In a way Sam was right. If he had arrived before I met you I would have gone back. As I said last night I wouldn't have minded that I was second best, I would have thought that was all I deserved, but I know better now. You've taught me that I deserve better. What I had with her is gone forever and I could never get it back. What I have with you is honest and genuine. I love you, I love what you are now, what you'll become in the future and I have no intention of giving it up for the memory of a past love. You've said that you trust me Alex, you've trusted me with your life. Now trust me with your heart, I'll take good care of it, I promise you."

I gazed back into his eyes. "I want to Bill, really I do," I said "but I've been so afraid."

He looked shocked and held me back from him for a moment. "You're afraid of me?" he asked quietly.

"No Bill, I'm afraid **for** you" I answered. "You've said so often that you don't want to become a monster. Well this is how monsters are made Bill, from pain and loss and grief, and you have so much pain. You need to let it go, to let her go, not for my sake but for yours.

He slipped his arms down to my waist and pulled me tight against him. "I know, and I will, I promise you. I've told you that I love you before and I meant it, truly I did, but it was only when I thought I'd lost you that I realised how important you are to me. When you didn't come home that first night I….I was desperate. All I could think of was you, all I could feel was a cold panic at the thought that I might never see you again." Another tiny red tear appeared in his eye and I leaned forward and wiped it gently away with my fingers.

"Oh Bill! I'm so sorry! I should have made more of an effort to contact you. If only I hadn't lost my wretched phone…"

"It's all right" he whispered, hugging me tightly to him, "everything's all right now." He pulled me down to him and kissed me gently. "I knew you were safe, it was just that I could feel your unhappiness and I was so afraid that you really believed that I would leave and that you might not come back."

He sat still for a moment holding me as if he would never let go, then he looked up at me a little nervously. "I have something for you" he said, hesitantly, "I saw it just before…..well before Sam arrived and I had to have it as a gift for you." He regarded me with a slightly worried expression as if he was afraid that I'd be angry with him.

"Well, that's very sweet of you!" I smiled at him "It's not my birthday or….."

"I didn't care about that. I just wanted to give you a gift that's all" he said reaching for his jacket. He unzipped an inner pocket, pulled out a long, flat, velvet box and handed it to me with a nervous little smile. I opened it and stared into the box in silence. Inside on a red velvet pad was a necklace. It was a long thick strand of gold, composed of multiple strands plaited together with a cap of gold on each end. There was a clasp about an inch above the two ends which held the loop of gold together with a band of tiny diamonds and below them hung a ruby in the shape of a teardrop.

"Oh Bill it's….it's beautiful" I whispered. Bill unfastened the top two buttons of my shirt and leaned forward to plant a gentle kiss on my neck. He reached into the box and drew out the necklace, fastening it carefully around my throat so that the diamond clasp lay just below the hollow of my throat and the ruby hung between my breasts like a drop of blood. I stood up slowly and walked over to the mirror on the wall beside the bow doors gazing, entranced at the ruby which was almost glowing in the dim light against the pale skin of my throat, the rich gleam of the gold framed by my dark hair, hanging loose over my shoulders. I turned back to see Bill watching me, his brilliant eyes gleaming, a tiny smile on his lips.

"It's perfect" he said quietly. "I knew it was made for you as soon as I saw it."

I climbed back onto his lap and held his face in my hands. "Bill, I...I don't know what to say..."

"Then don't waste those delicious lips by talking" he murmured, taking my hands and leaning in to kiss me. I curled up in his arms and as I did so I noticed a bowl of cherries I had bought the previous day on the shelf. I suddenly remembered how hungry I was and reached over for one. Bill watched intently as I popped the cherry into my mouth. He smiled, picked a cherry out of the bowl and offered it to me. I leaned forward and took it between my teeth, pulling it out of his fingers. "Mmm...these are delicious!" I muttered, lying back against his chest as Bill picked more cherries from the bowl and held another one out. "Another cherry?" he asked with a mischievous grin. I raised my head and took it from his outstretched fingers.

"You've been watching that movie again haven't you?" I asked with a smile. "The one with the witches? Fancy yourself as Jack Nicholson huh?"

He chuckled and held out another cherry with a wicked little smile "How am I doing so far?" he asked.

I was just about to answer when a sudden commotion erupted on the towpath outside.


	5. Chapter 5

I glanced out through the window and saw a familiar pair of Doc Marten boots with neon pink laces. I could hear an argument going on.

"She said yesterday that he wasn't with her!" said Sandi's voice firmly. "I don't see any reason not to believe her!"

"We saw him Sand..." came another voice. "When Dave and I were coming back just now. He jumped off the boat and carried her back in...I'm telling you, that fanger is definitely on board!"

"Well, what if he is?" Sandi snapped back. "That don't prove anything, there's other vampires around aren't there?"

"Not round here there aren't" came a third voice. "We've seen to that. This is our area" another pair of boots came into view, "just 'cos you liked her don't mean she's not in there screwing a murderer Sand! And a dead murderer at that!"

I turned back to glance at Bill who was regarding me with a quizzical expression. "That 'dead murderer' he's referring to wouldn't be me by any chance?" he whispered.

"Well...I suppose...it could be..."

Bill widened his eyes in mock horror. "You don't mean you've been screwing other murderers? How could you do this to me!"

I burst out into giggles and tried to smother them by burying my face in his chest. I hit his shoulder with my fist. "Don't! This is no time to develop a sense of humour!" I hissed. "They're serious!"

Bill smiled broadly. "Well, I guess we'd better go and put them right then!" He carefully buttoned up my shirt, covering up the necklace, then lifted me off his lap and stood up. I looked up at him and realised that I had never seen him quite so relaxed and happy. He had the peaceful expression of a man who has put his past behind him and is ready to begin his life anew. He smiled at me again and I had the unnerving impression that he knew exactly what I was thinking. He took my hand and opened the bow doors, gesturing for me to precede him like the gentleman he was.

I stepped out into the bows and climbed up onto the towpath. I could tell that Bill had stepped up behind me as the two rather scruffy young men broke off their argument and backed off a bit as I stepped forward. Sandi was standing facing them with her back to me. She turned and her eyes widened as she saw Bill.

"There! See, I was right!" said one of the young men triumphantly. "I told you he was on board!" He was short and wiry with reddish hair. Bill gave him a particularly bland, if slightly fangy smile.

"I arrived last night" he said quietly.

"Well, we don't want your sort around here" he said "we've had some trouble, but we can deal with it ourselves."

"Are you saying that you've had trouble with a vampire?" Bill asked. "You haven't thought to mention it to the authorities?"

The young man glared angrily at him. "Do I look like a coppers' nark to you? Of course we 'aven't!"

"He doesn't mean the Police" said the second young man. He was taller and stockier, thick with muscle, but he seemed a little more reasonable, certainly less aggressive. "He means the vampire authorities. They're much more organised now they're out in the open. I'd heard they'd appointed a sheriff recently" he turned to the the other boy, "maybe we should talk to him."

"We don't need no help from them!" he answered. "Why would they help us?"

"I understood that it was humans who were being attacked, not your kind?" said Bill mildly.

The redheaded young man turned to Sandi looking horrified. "You told her! You idiot!"

"Oh please!" said Bill patiently. "You didn't think you could keep it quiet surely? I can smell you from here!" He lunged at Bill who remained absolutely still watching him with a vaguely interested expression as his companion grabbed him and held him back.

"I've heard about this sheriff" said the stocky young man, wrestling the redhead back across the towpath. "He seems to be reasonable, for a fanger. Compton his name is, a bloody foreigner mind you... American. He stopped suddenly and looked back at Bill. I could see the realisation dawning in his eyes as he recalled Bill's accent.

Bill turned politely to Sandi and smiled. "You must be Sandi?" he asked eyeing her multicoloured hair. "And these two are...?"

She gave him a rueful little smile and said "they're my brothers. The hotheaded idiot's Dave and the other's Carl."

"I am William Compton" said Bill "If you can persuade your charming siblings to refrain from insulting my girlfriend they can call me Bill." He smiled at Sandi again "So, what exactly has been going on around here?"

We were sitting in the main cabin of Kingfisher. Sandi had opened a bottle of whisky and poured me a generous measure in apology for her brothers' behaviour. She had explained to Bill, with numerous interruptions from Dave that there had been a number of cases along the canal of women being found with vampire bites who did not appear to know what had happened to them. Another had been found by Tom, Sandi's boyfriend who arrived as we were talking. It appeared that Sandi and her brothers had taken it upon themselves to patrol the area around their boat and for a mile or so up the towpath in either direction.

"This is our territory" explained Carl. "We don't want any trouble here."

"And have you come across any trace of this vampire?" asked Bill.

"Well no, not yet" he admitted. "But we will, he can't hide forever!"

Bill sat still considering for a moment. "Am I right in thinking that only one woman was killed? The others were unharmed?"

"Well...if you think being bitten is unharmed!" said Carl.

Bill gave him a cool look and his fangs slid out a little. "A poor choice of words perhaps, although many ladies find it…...arousing" he said with a slight smile. "You'd be surprised!"

Carl sniffed and looked away.

"It's only a matter of time!" said Dave aggressively. "We'll make sure he doesn't kill anyone else. Not round here at least."

"To do that you would have to find him first" Bill pointed out reasonably "and we may be able to help you there."

Sandi yawned and stretched. "Well. Since we weren't sleeping all day I think we need some rest."

Bill smiled "Of course. We'll leave you to think about it. I appreciate that you distrust us...well me anyway...but I think we should try to work together on this."

Carl stood up and held out his hand to Bill. "You're right. I don't like vamps and I probably never will, but you've got a better chance of finding him than we have, before he causes any worse harm."

Bill shook his hand and we climbed out of Kingfisher and headed back to Lady Eleanor. I staggered slightly as I climbed back on board and Bill took my arm to steady me. "Oops! I guess I'm just not used to the whisky!" I said with a laugh, realising that I was feeling slightly tipsy. "Time for bed I think!" I set off down the corridor with a glance back over my shoulder at Bill who was locking the bow doors behind us. He turned to smile at me and I heard a buzzing noise and paused. A look of annoyance crossed his face briefly, then he pulled out his phone and flipped it open glancing at the caller ID. "Ah, Sam...hello!" he said. "Yes, yes, everything's fine. I've found her and explained what an idiot you are!" he looked across at me with a smile. "What?" he paused for a moment listening. "Well sure, if you really want to. He sat down in the armchair and said "well, actually, we're on her boat." There was a pause. "Yes, I did say boat! It's on the Grand Union Canal at Long Itchington, near Royal Leamington Spa. If you come to the pub by the canal bridge, The Fly Boat, I'll meet you there." He listened for a moment longer, "Right, I'll see you there." He clicked the phone shut and put it back in his pocket. "Looks like Sam's feeling really guilty, he wants to come and apologise to you personally."

I smiled "Oh really, there's no need for him to do that Bill. Call him back and tell him not to bother, he doesn't have to come all the way out here!"

"Actually, he's not far away" said Bill. "He's staying in Warwick. He's hired a car and he's just touring round seeing some of the country. I said I'd meet him at the pub in the village tomorrow evening."

"Oh! Okay fine. I'd like to see him actually. I should apologise for rushing off like that, and for not telling him who I was!"

"I think he appreciates now that you'd had a bit of a shock!" said Bill with a smile. He advanced on me with a determined expression. "So I intend to make the most of this opportunity to be alone with you while I can!"

"Just give me a minute will you?" I asked. "I can't have you tearing off my clothes, I don't have enough on board!" I reached up to kiss him and then slipped away and headed to the small sleeping cabin. I pulled off my clothes and climbed up onto the bed. There was a mirror above the little shelf at the head of the bed and I knelt on the bed examining myself. My dark hair hung loose over my shoulders and the beautiful gold necklace emerged from under the curls, the ruby suspended just above and between my breasts. I caught a movement in the mirror and Bill came into view behind me. He was naked too and he knelt behind me, his muscular thighs on either side of my hips, his arms around my waist. He looked over my shoulder into the mirror and smiled. "Now that's exactly how I imagined it would look" he purred in my ear.

"You imagined me wearing it naked?" I asked.

He bent his head and kissed the back of my neck. "I always imagine you naked" he whispered. I leaned back against him and turned towards him, offering my slightly parted lips. "You bad, bad boy!" I whispered back.

"Mmm….I just can't help myself" he murmured pressing his cool lips against mine and sliding his hands up to cup my breasts. I relaxed back into his arms, sitting down on his lap and feeling the hardness of his erection against my buttocks. "There," he whispered "see what imagining you naked does to me?" He ran his hands down my sides and grasped my hips, lifting me back up onto my knees and raised himself up at the same time, his stiff shaft sliding into the warmth between my thighs. One hand was on my hip, holding me steady and the other slipped down between my legs and began to gently stroke my already tingling flesh. He began to move his hips in the same slow rhythm until his fingers and the swollen head of his member were taking turns gliding over my slippery folds.

I began to feel that my legs wouldn't support me for much longer and Bill took one of my hands and leaned forwards, eliciting a moan as he pressed harder against me. "You're going to have to help me take care of this" he whispered softly, placing my hand on the edge of the shelf. I made a soft sound of acknowledgement and put my other hand on the shelf, holding on as he slid his hands back down to my buttocks. "That's a good girl" he breathed. I gave another moan and began to writhe against him, desperately trying to manoeuvre myself into a position from which he could enter me.

"Oh please Bill….." I moaned. I heard a low chuckle and felt his hand grip my hips again and lift me slightly. I wriggled in his hands and gasped as I felt the tip of him slip into my entrance and then his thick length slid deeply into me and I cried out with the intensity of it. I held onto the shelf, my head down, my long hair trailing on the pillow, lost in the sensation, feeling my body stretching to accommodate him as he drove himself slowly in and out of me. After a while I lifted my head and glanced into the mirror. Bill had moved his hands up to my shoulders and his head was bowed as he watched himself pumping into my flesh. As I looked up he raised his head, his eyes closed, his elegant curved fangs extended. He threw his head back and continued his maddeningly slow movements until I could no longer bear it.

I began to push back against him trying to encourage him to thrust harder and deeper. He gave a low growl and seized my hips, lifting me off the bed completely. I gave a squeak of surprise as I felt myself suspended in mid-air and then cried out his name as the altered angle of his penetration made convulsions of pleasure begin to rip through me. Bill gave another growl and pulled out of me completely I barely had time to take a breath before he had pulled my hands from the shelf and laid me down flat on the bed. Rolling me over onto my back he lowered himself onto me and entered me again. I squirmed beneath him as he began to rock his hips in that same maddeningly slow motion and in moments I was screaming out his name again, begging him to go faster, harder. I drew up my knees and threw my legs around his hips, pulling him closer, pushing myself up to meet his thrusts.

I dug my fingers into the crumpled sheets and turned my head to look up at him to see his pale, glowing face inches above mine. His brilliant blue eyes staring down at me. I slipped a hand around to the back of his neck and pulled his face down to mine, kissing him deeply, sliding my tongue between his lips and tracing it along the length of his fangs. He gave a moan and began to move faster driving the wave of pleasure higher and higher until I felt that, when it broke over me, I would surely drown. He pulled his lips from mine and threw his head back again with a snarl and I turned my head, pulling him back to me and bit him at the base of his throat. He let out a savage roar and suddenly I felt a rush of ecstasy through the blood bond as his orgasm tore through him and swept me away.

Bill was lying on his back his arms stretched up behind his head, his pale, ivory flesh standing out against my dark chocolate brown bedding in the dim light of the cabin. I looked up at the ceiling lights and caught myself thinking that I really must run the engine tomorrow to charge up the batteries. I smiled to myself. Here I was lying naked and exhausted alongside the most beautiful man I had ever seen and I was worrying about the electricity supply! I really needed to get my priorities straight!

Bill seemed to sense something and turned to look at me, raising an eyebrow. "I was just thinking that I need to run the engine for a while tomorrow. It won't disturb you will it?"

"I shouldn't think so" he said lazily, pulling one hand from behind his head and trailing his fingers down my stomach. He looked completely relaxed and I smiled up at him. "Are you really going to stay here and search for this vampire?" I asked "Haven't you got more important things to do?"

He slipped his other arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. "I have other things to do yes" he said "but, as I have recently discovered, nothing is more important to me than being with you, and if you're here, then there's nowhere else I'd rather be."

The Fly Boat was an old thatched building next to the canal, it was about a hundred yards or so down from the bridge with a garden going down to the canal and a sizeable car park on the other side. There were a couple of moorings at the bottom of the garden and two hire boats were tied up there, their occupants presumably inside having a meal. Bill and I went down the two uneven steps into the bar. The ceiling was low with dark beams every couple of yards, but the interior was roomy and quite busy. I had heard that the food was good so I had suggested we meet Sam there for a meal. Well Sam and I could have a meal at least!

As we walked into the bar the hum of conversation died down for a moment and a few heads turned in our direction. I was always astonished that no-one seemed to notice anything different about Bill. To my eyes his alabaster skin seemed to glow with a cool radiance of its own. Bill simply took my arm and strolled casually up to the bar.

Dim light was all very well but close up it was difficult not to notice Bill's unnatural pallor. The barman turned as he heard us approach and froze when he looked at Bill. Clearly the appearance of a vampire in his bar was a highly unusual occurrence. It appeared that the presence of the local werewolf clan had discouraged most vampires from visiting the area after all!

"Um…good evening." He said hesitantly. "I'm sorry, but we don't generally get vampires in here. I don't stock….that synthetic blood."

"That's fine" said Bill. "We're just meeting an old friend."

The barman turned away quickly, looking relieved and I leaned on the bar and coughed. "You've got gin I assume?" I asked.

"Well yes, of course!" he said, surprised.

"Excellent!" I smiled at him. "I'll have a gin and tonic."

"Oh, yes of course…..I beg your pardon miss." He said, looking completely flustered.

Bill and I were sitting, talking quietly at the bar, me sipping my gin and tonic when the door opened and Sam walked in. He peered around the bar and spotted us. I gave him an encouraging little wave and he smiled and walked over to us.

"Hi Alex!" he said. "I am so, so sorry! I hadn't the slightest idea who you were. Not that that's any excuse really. I had no right to assume that I knew what Bill would do. I just can't apologise enough...!"

I laughed. "Whoa! That's enough believe me! I should apologise too. Like you said, you didn't know who I was. I should never have let you carry on when you had no idea who you were talking to, it was unfair of me."

He gave a little sigh of relief and turned to Bill. "When you hauled me off that stool and dragged me into the office I thought my last hour had come!" he said.

"You did what?" I turned to Bill, shocked.

"I just wanted to get out of the bar!" he said "I needed to make a phone call. Of course I didn't realise at the time that I was calling the sofa!" he said with an impatient little sigh.

I laughed "Okay, that was my fault too!" I held up my hand "I promise that in future I will keep my phone on me at all times." I recited "There, how's that?"

Bill eyed me doubtfully. "You realise that I may have to hide all your other handbags?"

I burst out laughing again and Sam gave me a sheepish little grin. "So, am I forgiven then?"

"Hmm..." I said thoughtfully. "It might take another gin and tonic!"

Sam raised a hand and the barman came over. "Another gin and tonic for the lady, and a whisky for me please."

Our drinks arrived and we found ourselves a table in one of the windows where Sam and I examined the menus. After a short time one of the waitresses came over to take our order. She was blond and wearing a white T shirt and shorts with a little black apron, her hair tied up in a ponytail. Bill and Sam regarded her with identical expressions of surprise, then they looked at each other and grinned.

"What can I get for you tonight?" she asked with a bright smile.

Sam and I gave her our order and I noticed to my slight annoyance that her eyes kept sliding back to Bill who was sitting silently on the other side of the table, studiously ignoring the talk of human food. When Sam and I had given our orders she turned to Bill. "You won't be eating sir?" she asked.

"Bill smiled patiently and allowed his fangs to slide out a little. "Not in public, I promise!" he said. Her eyes widened a little and she scuttled off towards the kitchens.

"Will you behave yourself!" I whispered to Bill.

He gazed back at me with a slightly offended look of wide-eyed innocence.

Our meals arrived in record time and we ate and chatted together for an hour or so. It became obvious after a while that other customers were noticing that Bill was not joining us in our meal and I observed a number of surreptitious glances his way but we ignored them. Bill and Sam appeared to be comfortable with each other, Sam brought him up to date with what was happening in Bon Temps, but I noticed that neither of them mentioned Sookie.

Sam insisted on settling the bill and then asked if he could take a look at Lady Eleanor so we left The Fly Boat and strolled down the towpath. We passed Kingfisher, the boat was locked up although there were still lights on inside. Bill made a tiny gesture with his head and Sam nodded in understanding. I rummaged in my bag for the key, seeing Sam's smile when he noticed the ball of cork attached to it, and opened up the rear hatch. I climbed down into the rear cabin and made my way up to the front with Sam behind me. Bill closed the doors and the hatch and bolted them firmly from the inside before following us.

When he caught us up I was opening up the bow doors and Sam was looking around the main cabin with interest. "This is your boat?" he asked me. "You can handle something this size all by yourself?"

I laughed. "She can be a bit of a handful at times but then, we ladies are like that!"

I've never been on board anything like this before!" he said.

"Well, there's a spare cabin at the back you could use if you like" I offered. I glanced over Sam's shoulder to see Bill behind him with a horrified expression on his face. He shook his head vehemently.

"Oh no that's okay" said Sam. "I've already booked myself into the local Bed and Breakfast in the village." Bill's face took on a theatrical expression of relief. I tried hard not to smile.

"Oh fine!" I said. "Would you like a coffee?"

"Oh, that'd be great, thanks" said Sam.

I slipped past him into the galley giving Bill a glare as I passed. Wasted on him of course, he just grinned back at me.

As I was putting the coffee on Sam said "that other boat we passed, Kingfisher? Was there something...?"

"Werewolves" said Bill shortly.

"Oh, right" Sam didn't look too happy about this. I handed him his coffee and he hurriedly explained "I've had a...bad experience with werewolves recently."

"I've never really met any before" I said, sitting down in the armchair with my coffee. "Sandi and Carl, her older brother seem okay, but Dave is a bit aggressive I must say! He certainly doesn't appear to like vampires that's for sure."

Sam sat down on the couch and looked up at Bill. "Do you have much to do with them?" he asked.

"Well, I might not have much choice actually" said Bill. He pulled out the folding chair I kept under the table and sat down in it. "We appear to have a bit of a problem..."

He explained to Sam the story of the women found wandering by the canal and the likelihood of there being a vampire hunting the area regularly.

"Well" said Sam "I can see that you don't want that kind of thing happening, gives the rest of you a bad name right? But surely that's a matter for the area sheriff?"

"Didn't I mention that?" asked Bill "Well, I had a lot on my mind the last time we met! Actually, I am the sheriff!"

Sam's eyebrows rose alarmingly. "Anything I can do to help?" he asked.

"Perhaps" said Bill thoughtfully. "I'll go out and take a look around later myself, providing that I can avoid any patrolling werewolves of course! If you'd like to come back tomorrow evening maybe?"

"Sure" said Sam, putting down his coffee mug. "I should be getting back anyway, it's getting late, they'll have locked me out if I'm not careful!" He got up and smiled at me. "I'll see you tomorrow Alex. Goodnight." He gave Bill a pat on the shoulder and climbed out through the bow doors and up onto the towpath.

A moment later Bill came back into the cabin and bolted the doors behind him.

"Alone at last!" he said with a smile. "Come here!" He sat down on the couch and I put down my coffee and joined him. I snuggled up against him and he put his arm around me.

"So, you're going to abandon me then are you?" I asked sulkily.

"You had something else in mind?" he asked.

"Well...I could always put that necklace back on? It seemed to have quite an effect on you last night!"

"Oh, Please, don't tempt me" he said "you wicked girl, trying to lure me from my duty!"

"I was a good girl until I met you" I protested plaintively.

Bills shoulders began to shake with the effort not to laugh. "Oh right, you were a sweet little innocent weren't you?"

"I was!" I laughed, trailing a finger down the front of his shirt. "You're a wicked, evil vampire who corrupted me!"

Bill gave a snort of laughter. "You've discovered my secret!" he said, his eyes alight with mischief "as soon as I set eyes on you in that bookshop I knew you were the perfect victim! That I could mould you into a vessel for my unnatural lusts!" I collapsed onto his chest in a fit of giggles. "Well, I can't say that I've noticed any actual complaints?" he said "Perhaps I'll have to think up some more!" he raised an eyebrow in what managed somehow to be a highly suggestive manner.

I climbed onto his lap and sat astride him looking down into his eyes. "Well, if you're going to go out and leave me, I'd better make the most of you while I can!"

Bill smiled up at me. "Is that the gin talking?" he asked.

"Less talking...more kissing!" I said in my most demanding tone. Fortunately Bill was happy to oblige me.


	6. Chapter 6

I woke the following afternoon to find myself sprawled comfortably in bed. I had a vague, dreamy memory of Bill kneeling on the bed gazing deep into my eyes as he held me tightly to him, my legs wrapped around his hips, our bodies locked together as he rocked us into oblivion. I rolled over and noticed a piece of paper lying on the pillow.

_**Darling Alex,**_

_**No sign of anyone around last night. This vampire appears to be a little shy!**_

_**See you at dusk**_

_**Bill**_

I rolled out of bed and got into the shower, wondering what else we could do. There was only one thing I could think of that might help, and I was sure Bill would hate the idea.

It was early evening and I was sitting in the armchair reading when I heard a knock on the roof of the boat. I opened the bow doors and looked out to see Sam standing on the towpath. "Hi!" he said. "May I come aboard Captain?"

I laughed "Sure, there's some coffee on if you'd like some but you're a little early. Bill's still asleep."

Sam hopped down into the bows and came in. I poured him a coffee and we sat down.

"Bill looks...well." He said.

"Yes," I said "he's fine."

Sam watched me for a moment sipping his coffee and then said "I'll be honest with you Alex. I had no idea what I'd find when I set out to look for him. When I last saw him he was in a very bad way."

"He was in a bad way when I first met him" I said.

Sam sighed. "It's...difficult" he said. "I've known Sookie a very long time, she's an old friend. Frankly I thought she was a fool for getting involved with Eric, everyone did. But she's stubborn, she'd never take advice from anyone but her Gran and Adele was dead by that time." He didn't look at me but sat, sipping his coffee and looking out of the window across the canal. "I don't know what went wrong between her and Bill but it hit him hard, very hard. No-one really knew what to say to him. As I said, we were all quite fond of him and we'd have, you know, sympathised, if he'd just been one of the guys, but we didn't really know how he'd take it. We didn't want to risk offending him!"

"I can understand that." I murmured.

"He was always...reserved, quiet, you know. But I have to say that last night, well...I've never seen him so relaxed before! He seems really happy, contented. You're good for him Alex!" Sam smiled at me warmly.

I heard a slight sound behind us and turned to see Bill coming into the galley. I wondered if he had heard our conversation, but he gave no sign.

"Evening Sam" he said.

"Hi sweetie" I said "I got your note. Any thoughts on what to try next?"

"Not really" he said "You?"

"Well yes actually" I answered carefully. "Since he seems to attack human women, maybe you're not the best person to draw him out." I suggested.

"True" said Bill thoughtfully. Then the implications of what I had said seemed to sink in. "Oh no!" he said in a determined tone. "You are not going to do this!"

"Well I'd want you close" I said hurriedly "I'm not suggesting I go out alone!"

Just then the boat rocked slightly, there was a knock at the bow door and Sandi's multicoloured hair poked around the door.

"Hi Alex, I...Oh!" she stopped suddenly, staring at Sam.

"Hi Sandi" I replied. "This is Sam. Sam, this is Sandi, she's from Kingfisher."

"Oh, Hi Sam" she said, then turned to me. "I think you and Bill need to come and talk to Tom. He's heard of another one!"

I looked at Bill. "We have to do something" I said. He sighed "Well okay, I'll think about it!" he said.

We all got up and followed Sandi out onto the towpath where Tom, Carl and Dave were waiting.

Tom, Sandi's boyfriend, was taller than either of her brothers and dark haired. He watched Bill climb out of the boat and then came over to him. "You're the sheriff right?" he asked. "Mr Compton?"

"That's right" said Bill.

"I've just had a call from a friend of mine who works at a pub half a mile or so down the canal, just past Benson's lock" he said. A woman was found this morning sitting on the bench by the lock. She had no idea how she got there, and she'd been bitten by a vampire. Not badly, but enough to weaken her quite severely. A man out for an early morning walk noticed her spaniel wandering on the bank. Something's got to be done."

"Her spaniel?" asked Bill. "Alex, didn't you say that the woman you saw, the one who was found in the canal, she had a terrier?"

"Yes, that's right, she did" I replied.

He turned to Carl. "The woman you found?"

"Yeah, actually now I come to think about it she did have a dog with her" he said.

Bill looked thoughtful. "So all the ladies who were attacked were walking their dogs on the towpath?" he asked.

"That's not unusual" I said. "The towpath's a very popular spot for dog walkers."

"What of it anyway?" asked Carl, somewhat aggressively. "What difference would that make to a fanger?"

Bill ignored Carl's obvious animosity and turned to Sam with a raised eyebrow.

I watched Sam's face take on a resigned expression. "Oh come on Bill, please!" he said.

"Well you're the one who wanted to know how he could help!" said Bill struggling to suppress a smile.

I looked from Bill to Sam curiously. "Okay, there's obviously something going on here that I don't know about right? So which one of you boys is going to enlighten me?"

Bill gave a little smile but Sam just looked embarrassed. "Well" said Bill "you see, Sam doesn't always look like a friendly, sandy haired cowboy...sometimes he looks like a friendly, sandy haired collie dog!" My mouth fell open in surprise. "He's a shifter" explained Bill. "So if you really want to take a walk up the towpath to try and draw this vampire out, well he's your...man...sort of."

I looked at Sam questioningly.

"Well, yes okay. If it'll help" he said.

Bill put his hand on my arm. "I'll be close, I promise!"

Sam turned to me and asked "Can I leave my clothes on the boat?"

"Of course!" I said, feeling that things were starting to move a little fast for me. Sam slipped back on board and a few moments later a collie jumped up out of the cabin and out onto the towpath.

"Wow!" I murmured.

Sam sat down in front of me and held out a paw. I reached down and shook it solemnly. "My, you are a handsome boy aren't you?" I said. He rolled over onto his back, inviting me to tickle his tummy.

"Don't push your luck!" said Bill sternly.

Tom looked from me to Sam and back again. "Well, it's the best idea we've had so far!" he said. "Good luck!"

Bill took me in his arms for a moment and kissed me, then slipped away into the darkness at the side of the towpath.

"Right then Sam" I said turning to him. "Walkies?" He wagged his tail eagerly and we set off down the path into the darkness.

Half an hour later I yawned and turned to Sam. "Well, this has turned out to be a bust Sam!" I think it's time we headed back don't you?"

Sam put his head on one side and looked up at me, suddenly he tensed and his ears pricked up. He turned to the woods alongside the towpath and growled.

I turned and saw a young man come out from between the trees. He appeared to be in his early twenties and looked completely ordinary. The sort of guy you wouldn't look at twice, skinny and washed out looking with mousy brown hair. But then he turned towards me and I saw his eyes. They were pale and blank and empty of any expression or feeling. He stared at me for a moment and I saw his lips part as his fangs slid out.

I felt a soft weight against me as Sam leaned against my leg and began to growl again. I glanced around but could see no trace of Bill. I could feel that he was close so I hoped that meant he was just hiding! "Okay!" I said, trying to keep my voice calm and steady, "you should know that I belong to someone else."

He turned his head to one side slightly, those unnerving eyes fixed on me. "What difference does that make?" he asked in a strangely gentle voice.

Oh crap! He really didn't know? I backed away slightly. "Well, that means that he owns me" I explained frantically, "no-one else is allowed to feed from me."

He appeared to consider this for a moment. "Doesn't make any difference to me!" he said taking a step towards me.

"It makes a considerable difference to me!" came Bill's cold voice from somewhere behind me.

I felt relief flood through me as Bill was suddenly at my side, one hand on my arm. The strange young man stared at him curiously. "She belongs to you?" he asked.

"That's right" said Bill in his most possessive tone of voice, putting his arm around my shoulders. "Absolutely, body and soul!" I glanced up at him with a look which said clearly "You are so going to pay for that later!" He just raised an eyebrow and grinned at me then turned back to the young vampire. "You don't seem to be aware of this." He said. "Did your Maker not explain this kind of thing to you?"

The young man looked completely blank. "Maker?" he asked.

Bill's eyes widened in shock and he released me and began to walk slowly towards the young man. "What happened to you?" he asked gently. "I'm Bill, what's your name?"

The young man stared back at him for a moment. "Jamie...my name's Jamie" he said. Bill held out his hand. "Come with me Jamie" he said.

Jamie's strange empty eyes widened a little and he backed away. "It's okay, I'm leaving. I'll stay away from you and your woman I promise." He sounded frightened and Bill's voice became lower and more gentle.

"I'm not going to hurt you Jamie. I want to help you, I want to help you understand what's happened to you."

"I know what's happened to me! I'm not stupid!" Jamie raised his voice, sounding angry and frustrated now. "I'm a vampire!"

"Yes, I can see that" said Bill soothingly. "But how? You don't seem to know."

"I don't know...I..." Bill reached for Jamie and caught his arm. He flinched and tried to pull away but Bill was much too strong for him. He panicked and began to struggle but Bill held him easily, talking quietly to him until he calmed down.

"There now, you're coming back with us Jamie. I won't hurt you I promise. I just want to understand what happened to you, I want to help you." Jamie, perhaps realising that fighting to free himself from Bill's grasp would do him no good, suddenly seemed to go limp and give up.

"You really won't hurt me?" He asked fearfully.

"Of course not!" said Bill, "Why would I?"

Jamie glanced over at me and Bill smiled. "She's fine, there's no harm done."

We headed back up the towpath, Sam trotting quietly at my heels, until we reached Kingfisher. There was a flash of fur and suddenly two wolves were standing in the path blocking our way. I turned to see another two behind us. Jamie seemed to shrink away from them and tried to pull back. Bill sighed. "Alright boys! I'll deal with this if you don't mind." One of the wolves raised its head and looked up at him and the two behind us backed away, but the other, the one with the reddish fur, crouched down a little and snarled shifting its paws as if about to leap. Bill pushed Jamie behind him. "Back off fleabag!" he snarled, baring his own fangs at the wolf, which I assumed was Dave. "This is no concern of yours!"

The first wolf, Carl, trotted over to Kingfisher and jumped on board and, somewhat reluctantly, Dave followed him.

Five minutes later Jamie was sitting on the couch in the main cabin of Lady Eleanor while I made some coffee for Sam and myself. Bill pulled the old armchair forward so that it faced the small sofa and sat down in it as Sam returned from the rear cabin pulling on a T shirt. I poured Sam a coffee and we leaned on the counter in the galley watching Bill.

He smiled at Jamie. "So, are you going to tell us what happened to you?" he asked. "Who did this to you?"

"But I don't know!" said Jamie, the desperation beginning to show in his voice. "I don't know how it happened… I fell asleep one night and I woke the next night…..like this!"

Bill leaned forwards with his elbows on his knees. "No-one turned you?" he asked.

"Is that even possible?" I whispered. Bill held up a hand and gestured to me to be quiet. He watched Jamie, who seemed embarrassed and unable to meet his eyes for some reason.

Bill reached forward and put his fingers under Jamie's chin, tilting his head up so that he looked up into Bill's eyes. "There's nothing to be ashamed of, not with us. "You've been with vampires? And you've been bitten?" Bill asked. "Many times? You've been to the clubs?"

"Yes" admitted Jamie softly. "It felt so….good." He stared at Bill almost hungrily. "I don't mean just the sex, I mean being bitten. I...I really enjoyed it." His voice was so low I could hardly hear it and he pulled away from Bill hand and lowered his eyes again.

"Yes, it does" I agreed quietly.

He glanced up and gave me a grateful look. "Yes, you understand don't you." he said.

"You allowed many different vampires to drink from you? In different clubs?" asked Bill. "And you didn't tell them about each other?"

Jamie looked up sharply. "How do you know that?" he asked.

"Because none of them appear to have warned you about the dangers of what you were doing" explained Bill gently. "Sometimes, if a human is fed on frequently by different vampires the repeated draining can have an unexpected side effect. The victim can be turned involuntarily, unknowingly even. It's rare, but not unheard of. " He put his hand on Jamie's arm. "I'm sorry."

Jamie sat quietly for a moment, taking this in. "There was one time, early on" he said thoughtfully. "I had a lot of bite marks and the girl….she turned me away. She said I'd been bitten too much." He looked up at Bill. "After that I asked them to heal the bite marks so no-one would know."

"The idiot!" snapped Bill. Jamie flinched and Bill took his hand again. "Not you….her. She should have explained why she refused you. Warned you of the risk you were taking."

Jamie sat up straighter and looked at Bill with those strange haunted eyes. "It's not supposed to be like this is it?" he asked helplessly. "But I don't understand, I don't know what to do." A bright red tear appeared in his eye and he blinked and wiped at his face, smearing the blood over his pale cheek.

I reached into the fridge, pulled out two bottles of Tru Blood and put them in the microwave. Jamie watched me nervously. "I've tried to live on that stuff, really I have, but…..It's just not enough….."

"Ah, yes" said Bill, getting up and coming over to fetch the warmed bottles. He put one down on the table before Jamie and took a swig from his own. "It's not, is it? And that brings us to your other problem. I'm assuming that you were responsible for the ladies who were found wandering on the towpath with nasty bite wounds and a distinct lack of memory?"

Jamie looked down at his feet, guiltily. "Well, yes…..I didn't mean to hurt them, but I was so hungry!"

Bill put his bottle on the small table and sat down again in the armchair. "They appeared to have been glamoured. Now how did you accomplish that with no one to teach you?"

Jamie looked puzzled at this. "Well, I just told them not to remember me" he said. "It seemed…sensible, at the time."

"You mean you did it instinctively?" Bill looked quite impressed. But you merely removed the memory, you didn't replace it with anything else?"

"I didn't know how!" said Jamie.

Bill sighed. "You see, this is why this should never be allowed to happen. Young vampires should always have a Maker. You need someone to teach you, care for you."

Jamie gazed at him hopefully. "I tried to meet with other vampires, I thought that if I was around them I could learn, but no-one would help me. They treated me like a freak and drove me away. Will you help me?"

"Yes, I'll help you" said Bill with a rueful little smile. "At least I'll find someone who can, I have friends in The Authority who can help. But first we have to deal with the problem of your victims!"

Jamie looked blank. "But they're okay aren't they? I just made them forget me, that's all."

Bill's eyes narrowed slightly as he said quietly "One of them is dead."

Jamie froze and a look of absolute horror crossed his pale face. "No!...no, no I never killed anyone, I swear it! I never even meant to hurt them!" He looked around him in a panic and Bill reached over and put a hand on his arm.

"Don't try and run away Jamie. I said I'd help you and I will, you were not entirely responsible for what happened."

"No! I mean it! They were all alive when I left them, honestly" said Jamie frantically.

It was now Bill's turn to look puzzled. "A well dressed lady with a little dog, a border terrier on a lead?" he asked.

Jamie sat trying to master his panic and said "Yes, I remember her. She was on a boat a few miles away. But I didn't kill her, I swear it!"

"Her body was found in the canal the next day" said Bill thoughtfully. "Perhaps she fell, tripped and was sufficiently weakened that she was unable to get out again? An accident?"

Jamie stared up at Bill, his eyes wide with panic, his already pale face a shade paler. Then he put his head in his hands and began to weep helplessly. "But it was my fault! If it weren't for me she'd be alive now! It's my fault!"

Bill got up and went over to the sofa. He sat down quietly beside Jamie and put his arm around his thin shoulders. Jamie laid his head on Bill's chest and sobbed. After a while he seemed to calm down a little and pulled away. He looked up at Bill and asked softly "How can I live with this? How is that possible?"

Bill stared into space for a moment and then said quietly "It's hard, but you can come to terms with it….eventually.


	7. Chapter 7

The next evening we met with Tom and Sandi and her brothers. Bill explained what had happened and why he believed that Jamie could not be held entirely responsible. Jamie sat quietly on one side of the cabin taking no part in the conversation. Dave was furious and was all for calling the Police and turning him in at once but Tom and Carl were more reasonable. They managed to convince him that it would do no good and that it was best to allow Bill to deal with the problem.

"Use your head for once Dave!" said Carl. "What good will the cops do? They don't know how to deal with vampires. Better to let the Sheriff deal with it. Besides, we don't want to draw attention to ourselves now do we?"

Tom had spoken to the Police about the cases, using the fact that he had found two of the victims as an excuse for his curiosity. He reported back that all the women had made good recoveries and that the police report on the dead woman stated that she had drowned. The vampire bite was thought not to have contributed to her death.

Jamie did not entirely accept this but his guilt appeared to ease a little at the news.

Sam had decided that he enjoyed life on board and so he sent the hire car back and spent a couple of days with us on Lady Eleanor. Bill wasn't too happy about this at first as he wanted us to be alone but I pointed out that, since Jamie was on board, that wasn't going to happen anyway.

I taught Sam to work the locks and we spent the afternoons making our way back to the marina while Bill and Jamie slept. Being a typical man he insisted on trying to drive the boat as well and spent some time that night explaining to Bill how difficult it was and how astonished he was that I could handle it on my own.

Since I didn't really have much food on board we generally found a pub in the evenings where Sam and I could eat and Bill and Jamie could at least get a Tru Blood and sit and talk. On the way back to the boat Sam would thoughtfully take Jamie on ahead, leaving me and Bill to wander back down the towpath hand in hand, kissing like a couple of teenagers.

One evening we were moored on a stretch of canal which ran alongside a lake. The canal was on a low embankment. On the other side of the towpath the ground sloped gently away for about 20 yards or so through the trees to the lakeside. Bill and I had wandered off the towpath and into the trees watching the moonlight turning the surface of the lake to silver.

Bill took my hand and brought it to his lips. "Have I told you tonight that I love you?" he asked, kissing my fingers.

"Hmmm...don't think so" I answered shyly.

Bill bent over my hand and kissed it tenderly. "I love you Alexandra!" he said, glancing up at me from under his brows with a look that turned my insides to hot liquid. He felt it through the bond, my sudden arousal, I could see it in his eyes as he stepped towards me and backed me up against one of the trees which grew more thickly here. He reached for me, putting his hands on my waist and kissing me hungrily. I kissed him back equally passionately but began to struggle as I felt his hand slide down between our bodies and tug at the button on my cotton trousers.

"Bill no!...we can't, it's still early and we're right next to the towpath, someone might come…..."

"I certainly hope so!" he breathed into my ear, unfastening the button with a slight pop and easing the zipper down so that he could slide his long fingers into my panties. My stifled giggle turned to a gasp as I felt his hand ran down my stomach and into the soft hair between my legs...then further down. He lifted me and pushed me back against the trunk of the tree, holding me there with one hand and I felt his fingers slide out of me and tug at his jeans. A moment later he had freed himself and his hand pushed back between my legs, this time holding his rigid member in his fingers and pressing it into me. Perhaps it was the cool air on my flesh or the delicious sense of danger, the thought that someone might pass us on the path at any moment, but I was suddenly desperate for him. I wriggled slightly trying to ease my panties down a little further to give him better access, pushing myself shamelessly onto his hard shaft. Suddenly I felt something tear and then he was in me, driving me back against the harsh bark of the tree trunk.

I came almost immediately, and I kept on coming as he pumped his hips against me. My legs were still held together by my trousers which had slipped down my thighs and I struggled to part them further to allow Bill to push in deeper but I couldn't. However the constriction of my thighs and the fact that Bill was almost having to force himself between them was causing the kind of delicious friction which was driving us both to a higher state of excitement. Fireworks were going off in my head as he threw his head back, showing me his long curved fangs before striking deeply at my throat. The fireworks in my head burst into a raging white light and I clung to him, nearly biting my own tongue in an effort not to scream his name out into the night.

It might have been hours later or only moments when I opened my eyes and felt Bill's cool tongue licking gently at the wounds on my throat. He pulled back and looked into my slightly glazed eyes. "You see...you were right!" he whispered. Suddenly he tensed and threw his head up, sniffing at the air like a hunting dog. "Someone's coming!" he said quietly. "And it's not one of us!"

I felt myself being lowered carefully to the ground and we both began to fumble at our clothing, giggling like a couple of naughty schoolchildren. Bill began to brush bits of bark from my back, then we strolled casually out of the trees, Bill's arm around my waist since I was a little unsteady on my feet, to see a woman on the towpath with a dog.

"Good evening" said Bill politely. "Isn't it a lovely night?"

She had a flashlight which she ran over us stopping at my neck. I realised to my horror that Bill's fang marks must be very clear and fresh. The flashlight suddenly snapped off. "Good evening" she said, then she called to the dog and hurried away down the towpath. We watched her for a moment, her dog running ahead, sniffing at unseen points of interest in the grass.

"Oh Bill...what on earth must she have thought?" I whispered.

"She probably thought that you were the latest victim of the 'Towpath Vampire!'" said Bill with a laugh. Then he looked down at me seriously. "What she doesn't realise is that, thanks to you, she can walk her dog in safety now." He put his arm around me. "That was a brave decision on your part" he said. "To use yourself as bait. You knew I wouldn't be happy about it, that it could be dangerous, but you did it anyway."

I smiled up at him. "Yes, I knew it could be dangerous" I ran my hand over his chest "but when has that ever stopped me in the past?"

Bill smiled back down at me. "I should have known better really shouldn't I? You knew it would be dangerous to let me taste your blood, but you also knew that I needed it, so you did it anyway. I shall always be grateful for your courage." He pulled me to him and kissed me. "But I do wonder if we did the right thing" he said thoughtfully. Then he shook himself. "No, there's no other way. We couldn't leave him. He needs help."

"What are you worried about?" I asked.

"I told Jamie that I'd help him, that I have friends in the Authority who could help him. But to be honest, I'm not entirely sure how they will take it. What happened to him has always been very rare. You remember he said that other vampires drove him away? Well, in the old days vampires created in this way were considered to be abominations and were destroyed."

"But it was nothing to do with him!" I said "How could they blame him?"

"Before the Revelation this would only happen to humans who belonged to a nest of vampires. They would have been fed on many times, almost drained, the vampires despised humans like this and wouldn't accept that someone so debased could become one of them." Bill paused and looked down at me. "But now, well….you heard him. Certain people seek out vampires, they want to be bitten. This is likely to happen far more often and we have to either let people know the risks or take responsibility for what happens to them." Bill's handsome face took on a determined expression. "If these people are not warned of the risks then they can hardly be blamed for the consequences." He took my hand in his and we strolled slowly back to Lady Eleanor, his long fingers entwined with mine.

The next night we reached the boatyard at dusk and for once I had three strong men to help me tie up at the pontoon. I stood at the tiller calling directions to my crew feeling that I could quickly get used to this. I was back in the cabin packing up what little I had with me when I felt Bill behind me. I was holding the beautiful ruby necklace in my hands as he came up quietly and lifted my hair up to kiss the back of my neck. "Do you like it?" he whispered.

"It's the most beautiful piece of jewellery I've ever seen" I said softly. "But it's far too expensive Bill. It must have cost you a fortune!"

"As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it for you" he said, putting his arms around my waist and pulling me back against him. "It wouldn't have mattered to me what it cost. I just needed to...to show you how important you are to me, how much you mean to me." He hesitated and I turned my head to look up at him. "I...I don't want you to think I'm trying to buy your love, I know I could never do that...but I want you to have it."

I felt a tear in my eye as I replied "Oh Bill...I know you'd never try to buy me! You're just not like that!" We stood for a moment, Bill holding me tight in his arms. Then I leaned back against him and said "We should be making a move you know. Goodness only knows what Azaria's been up to while you were away!"

Bill chuckled "She was so relieved when I called her that first night to say that you were okay that she agreed to behave herself without even thinking twice! But you're right we should be going."

Even so he held onto me for a moment longer. I placed the necklace carefully back in the velvet box and put it in my handbag. Then we climbed up out of the rear cabin, locked the hatch and left Lady Eleanor to sway gently at her moorings.

Sam had called a cab to take him to the Hotel he had booked for the next stage of his holiday and he dropped us off in the village where both Bill and I had left our cars. He got out of the cab and kissed me on the cheek. "It's been lovely to meet you Alex. I hope you can forgive me for being such an idiot. If I'd had any idea of how much Bill cared for you..."

I laughed. "It's okay, everything's okay now!" I walked over to my car with Jamie leaving Bill and Sam together. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Bill give Sam a hug and say something I couldn't quite catch, then he got back into the cab and waved to me out of the window as he was driven away.

I must admit that I was astonished at how delighted Azaria was to see me. Somehow, although I had been involved with the search for her from the beginning and had been with Bill the whole time, I had always thought of her as Bill's daughter. Since they were both vampires I had always assumed that she would naturally prefer his company to mine. But it seemed that I was wrong. We had driven home separately as we had both cars, Bill had taken Jamie with him and I had followed. As I pulled up in the front yard of Bill's house I could see Azaria talking to Bill, who had just got out of his car.

As I pulled up she dashed across and opened the car door. "Alex! Oh thank the gods you're okay!" I got out of the car and was immediately snatched up into a hug which practically made my ribs squeak.

"Yes….ouch! I'm fine!" I said with a smile. I gave her a hug in return and she let go of me.

She looked sternly from me to Bill and back again. "Right, well I hope you've sorted it out, whatever the problem was?" she asked.

"Yes Miss, we certainly have" said Bill, his lip twitching in an effort not to smile.

She visibly relaxed at this news. "Oh good, that's such a relief!" she said. "So, who's this?" she asked turning to Jamie who had got out of Bill's car and was watching us nervously.

"Ah yes!" said Bill. "This is Jamie. Jamie, this is my lovely daughter Azaria." Azaria's face lit up at his words and she turned to Bill with a brilliant smile. Bill smiled back indulgently and put his arm around her. "Come on, we'll explain everything."

Two hours later we were all sitting in the lounge having listened to Jamie's story and Bill's explanation of what had happened to him. Bill had also explained to Jamie what had happened to Azaria and I have to say that he was beginning to look as if he was realising that he hadn't had such a bad time of it after all. That there were, in fact, worse things that might have happened to him.

"I hate to do this to you Jamie but I think I'm going to have to use you as an example to The Authority" said Bill thoughtfully. "They really need to know what's happening and do something about it. Will you help me? Help me to try and ensure this doesn't happen to anyone else?"

"Um…what would you want me to do?" he asked anxiously.

"Come with me to The Authority in London and explain to them what happened to you. Stand up to them. Insist that something is done" said Bill.

Jamie seemed to shrink in his seat. "I…I'm really not very good at standing up to people….."

Bill leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and looked Jamie in the eyes. "Listen Jamie" he said "what happened to you was not your fault. It was entirely avoidable. It should not have happened. It should not happen to anyone else. But if we do nothing, then it will. Other people will be made to suffer as you have, suffer unnecessarily. You can help me stop this." He reached over and took Jamie's hand. "You just need to show a little backbone" he said with a smile. "You can do this, really. I'll help you."

Jamie sat up a little. "You really think I could do that?" he asked.

"I'm sure you can" said Bill firmly.

"And you'd be with me? You'd help me?"

"Of course!" said Bill, "I'll be with you the whole time."

Jamie's thin face took on a look of determination. "Okay, I'll do it!" he said.

Bill sat back with a smile. "Good man! I'll call Ulrich and ask him if he can arrange a meeting."


	8. Chapter 8

Three days later we were in London. Back in the marble floored lift heading down to The Authority's underground headquarters. Azaria and I had insisted on coming along to offer our support and Jamie seemed relieved to have some extra backup.

Ulrich was in the foyer waiting for us. He came over to us with a smile. "Bill, Alex how are you? And Azaria" he took Azaria's hand and kissed it gallantly. "It's so good to see you again my dear."

"Ulrich, it's good to see you too" said Bill as Ulrich put a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. "I understand that you have spoken to your fellow Chancellors about our visit?"

"Yes indeed!" he said, directing us down a corridor lined with what appeared to be offices. "You're not too popular at the moment I'm afraid. You've brought up a rather touchy subject. One which most of us would prefer not to have to think about at all!"

"Well that's the problem isn't it" said Bill. "No one likes to think about it. But it's time we did."

"Unfortunately you will need to convince Lydia of that. The vote gave her sole charge of this subject and she's still a little unhappy that your friend the Winter Queen completely contradicted The Authority's judgement on Lazlo" said Ulrich.

Bill gaped at him in shock. "What?" he said "Oh come on! That was hardly my fault! Besides, it has nothing whatsoever to do with this!"

Ulrich sighed, "True, but she's still not happy with you. I understand she's been asking questions among your acquaintances, gathering character references you might say."

Bill heaved a resigned sigh "Oh dear! Sounds as though she's made her mind up already." Ulrich stopped outside one of the doors and put out his hand to open it. Bill reached out and took his arm. "You gave me your word that Jamie would be safe Ulrich!" he said.

Ulrich turned to look at Jamie who had gone even paler than usual. "He will be safe, I give you my word as a Chancellor of The Authority." he said solemnly. He pushed the door open and gestured to us to enter.

The door opened on a large office with two sofas along the far wall and a large desk. Behind the desk sat a woman who I recognised as Lydia from our previous visit. Azaria and I sat quietly on one of the sofa's as Ulrich introduced Jamie. Lydia stood up and regarded Jamie rather as she would a trained dog that Bill had brought in to demonstrate a new trick.

It took Bill and Jamie between them about 10 minutes or so to explain what had happened to him and how Bill had discovered him preying on women on the canal towpaths.

"So Mr Compton, this is the creature that you found is it?" she asked coming around the desk. "You should have destroyed him as soon as you realised what had happened to him. He is not worthy of the gift!" said Lydia. "He is an abomination."

Jamie shrank back from her and looked at Bill with a panicky expression.

"Worthy?" said Bill. "Are you serious?" Lydia glared at him angrily but did not reply. "Do you really believe that only those who are judged 'worthy' are turned?"

Lydia gave a derisive snort. "That was always the case in the past, but I will admit that now it no longer holds true."

"It was certainly not always the case in the past!" said Bill indignantly. "Do you think my Maker found me 'worthy'? That she offered me 'the gift'?" He laughed harshly. "She simply wanted me! She wanted a man for company, someone that she could train to be as depraved as she was. She gave me no choice, she knew I was on my way home from the war, to my wife and my children, but she didn't care. She decided that she wanted me to satisfy her lust and so she simply took me!" He stood tense beside Jamie, "Would you say then that I was not worthy?"

She leaned back on the edge of the desk. "You were a soldier Mr Compton" she said. "You killed men even before you were turned. And yet now you shrink from doing so? Even though you know that this process has created monsters in the past, even though it may be necessary to prevent further bloodshed?"

"I killed men in the war, yes. I had no choice. We believed, fools that we were, that we were fighting for a just cause. I have killed, we all have, we are killers by nature, but I have killed men for what they have done, not for what they might do! I have never killed anyone on the basis of what they might possibly do in the future and I don't intend to start now!"

Lydia walked up to Bill. I thought I saw a fleeting look of worry cross Ulrich's face but Bill stood his ground. "Anastasia was right about you" she said with a tiny smile. "You have the courage to stand up for what you believe is right. This boy means nothing to you and yet you defend him simply because you believe he should be defended."

"He has done nothing wrong" said Bill firmly. "He didn't understand what was happening to him and he has no one else to stand up for him. I'm sure it would be much easier for all of us if I had simply killed him, but he cannot be the only one. I believe that he is only the first of many who will be turned in this way if we, who are responsible for this, do not take action."

"So now you would tell us how to run our affairs Mr Compton?" she said sharply. She glared at him for a moment and then walked back behind the desk and sat down. "Well, fortunately for you, I believe that you are probably correct." I saw Ulrich's eyebrows rise slightly and he looked relieved. It appeared that he was surprised by this turn of events.

"I have made enquiries about you Mr Compton. Those few in this country who know you seem to have quite a high opinion of you. They describe you as a man of conscience, of principles. You certainly don't lack courage. I myself saw you stand up to a Faery Queen. You must have known the kind of reception you were likely to get from us on this subject, but you came here anyway because you thought it was the right thing to do."

"Something has to be done" said Bill. "Look at him. He's not a killer, you can see that. But a woman has died because he didn't have the help he needed, and if we don't do something then more will die unnecessarily. He didn't intend for her to die and he will have to survive with that on his conscience. It's not going to be easy for him, I know. You know that many humans already think of us as unscrupulous killers, and in many cases they're right! Some of us can't even remember what a conscience was! He's exactly what you need to refute that. A good man who was turned by accident and remained a good man. He just needs a little help and guidance."

"And you think that you can give it to him?" asked Lydia with a cynical little smile.

"I think I know someone who can" answered Bill. "But we must make an effort to ensure that it doesn't happen again. Get information out into the clubs and bars where it's needed. I know that it goes against everything we have done in the past, to give humans information about us, but if we don't there will soon be many more like Jamie, and not all of them will be as gentle as he is. Before long we could have a serious problem on our hands."

Lydia sat back in her chair and sighed. "Yes, you're right of course. It's just not going to be easy to get this past the other Chancellors. I assume you'll back me on this Ulrich, since you arranged this meeting in the first place?" she asked.

"Of course" said Ulrich. "I wouldn't have brought him here if I didn't believe he was right."

She stood up and came back around the desk to take Bill's hand. "I should thank you Mr Compton. I don't wish to seem ungrateful. It's just that we have spent so long concealing our natures from humans that it's difficult for some of us to change our attitudes. However, you are right. We must!"

Bill shook her hand. "I quite understand" he said.

Azaria and I had just got up to leave when Lydia turned to us, appearing to notice us for the first time. "Ah, Azaria!" she said "You're the young lady whose grandmother defied our judgement on Lazlo."

Azaria regarded her calmly and said "well, although her appearance was just as much of a shock to me as it was to you, her reaction was hardly unexpected. I agree with her that your judgement was wrong. Lazlo deserved everything he got."

Lydia turned to Bill. "I see you've not taught her to respect her elders!" she said.

"I've taught her to be polite to her elders" said Bill. "But to make her own decisions. For what it's worth I agree with her. Lazlo was a dangerous maniac and deserved to be condemned." He paused for a moment. "Besides, I'm not convinced that you are in fact her elder."

Lydia smiled. "Hmm… you may be right actually."

Ulrich opened the door and ushered us out into the corridor. "Speaking of dangerous maniacs….." said Bill "what's happened to Clovis?"

"Actually he's here, in the cells" said Ulrich. "The human authorities didn't really have the facilities to hold him and so they asked us if we could assist them. That Inspector friend of yours….Fenton? Falton?..."

"Felton" said Bill with a smile.

"Right….Felton. He seems a sensible man, open minded. We thought it best to be as helpful as we could, in the circumstances. I dare say they'll get round to a trial sooner or later."

"They can leave him there to rot for all I care" said Bill harshly. "It's better than he deserves." ( Last Seen at Magdalen )

By this time we had reached the foyer. Ulrich turned to Bill again. "Are you sure you don't want to stay here for the day? We can provide a room. Will you be able to get back before dawn?"

"Thanks, but no" said Bill. "We're only going as far as Oxford, we'll spend the day there, possibly a few days actually." He smiled at Azaria, who was grinning at the thought of seeing Dan again.

Ulrich shook his hand and said "Thanks for coming Bill. You've made us think about something we really needed to think about." He turned to Jamie and shook his hand as well. "We owe you our thanks too Jamie. It couldn't have been easy to come here and face Lydia. She can be a little intimidating, to say the least, but what happened to you is wrong and needs to be dealt with. Thank you."

He put an arm around me and Azaria and kissed us both on the cheek. "I hope to see you ladies again soon." He said with a smile.

We got to the Mill House an hour before dawn and Bill and Jamie hauled a spare mattress down from one of the third floor rooms into Azaria's room for Jamie to sleep on during the day. Azaria wasn't too happy about this but Bill assured her it would only be for the one day.

I decided to have a shower before going to bed and I left Bill making a phone call. When I came out of the shower he was already asleep. I smiled down at him, sprawled on the bed in a pair of silk pyjama trousers and climbed in beside him, crawling carefully under the quilt, trying not to disturb him. I curled up alongside him and he shifted in his sleep, rolling onto his side and tucking his body around me. I drifted off to sleep with my head resting against his chest.

I woke a few hours before dusk and turned to look at Bill. He was still lying on his side facing me, one arm outstretched towards me. I must have moved away from him in my sleep. I leaned over and kissed him gently and he stirred slightly before falling back into sleep, but I noticed a small smile had appeared on his face. I watched him for a moment, recalling my misery when I had thought I had lost him, then I pulled myself together, checked the clock and figured that I had time for a shower and a meal before the rest of my unorthodox little family woke.

I was curled up on the sofa with a book when Bill appeared, dressed only in a pair of cotton cargo pants and rubbing at his damp hair with a towel. I thought I had heard the shower running earlier.

"Hi baby" I said "you didn't come looking for me then?"

"I was tempted" he replied. "When I woke up alone. But then...I trust you not to do that to me again and we macho men don't like to appear too clingy." He smiled down at me, his handsome face surrounded by his still damp hair looking softer somehow, more vulnerable. "Besides I knew you weren't far away."

"So who was the phone call to? Last night?" I asked.

Bill laughed. "You don't miss much do you?" he said. "I called two other women actually!" He sat down on the sofa next to me and gave me a kiss.

"Calling other women huh? That's a bit risky don't you think?" I said.

"Not at all. You're far too sensible to get jealous" he said with another smile. "I called Anastasia first. I wanted to thank her for backing me up when Lydia called her. Then I called Claudia, I invited her round tonight with Chris...oh and Dan of course. He sort of invited himself actually, but Azaria would never have forgiven me if I'd said no."

I snuggled up to him and said "You're going to ask Claudia to help you with Jamie? To look after him?"

Bill put his arm around me and I looked up at him. "I told her about him last night and she volunteered. I was going to ask her but she didn't give me the opportunity. What do you think? She'll have Gerry to help her, he's always round there for one reason or another."

I smiled. "I think she'll be perfect. And you'll always be there to help her if she needs it."

Bill sat back and sighed "I know she'll do her best for him but I don't want her to do this because she feels indebted to me." He turned to me with a slightly apprehensive expression. "Do you think maybe I should ask Gerry instead? Or look after him myself?" He heaved another sigh. "Am I being selfish to want to spend more time with you?"

I laughed. "Oh come on Bill! You don't have to do everything yourself! You've got enough on your hands with Azaria! Besides, you didn't ask her to do it. It was her decision. Perhaps she feels that she needs to give something back. To...balance out the help that you gave her. You were there for her when she needed you, now Jamie needs someone and she feels that she could be there for him."

Bill leaned over and kissed me tenderly. "You are such a comfort to me, do you know that?" he murmured. "I'll just wait and see what she says." He pulled me to him and began kissing me again.

Suddenly I heard a cough and Bill and I sat up and looked around. Azaria was standing in the open hallway in a pair of baggy tracksuit trousers and a "Grateful Dead" T shirt, grinning at us. Bill eyed the T shirt disapprovingly "Yes...very ironic!" he said. "What are you hanging around here for? Hadn't you better be smartening yourself up a bit? Dan will be here in a couple of hours. You must have about sixteen outfits to try on before he gets here?"

"Dan's coming? Tonight? Why didn't you say so?" she squeaked. There was a blur and she disappeared, doubtless to try on the first of the sixteen outfits!

"Who's Dan?" asked Jamie coming out of the kitchen.

"Azaria's boyfriend" laughed Bill. You'll meet him later tonight.

"Hadn't you better go and put some clothes on?" I asked with a smile. "You've got a bit of a nerve really, sitting there half naked and criticizing her choice of T shirt!"

Bill laughed. "Okay, if you insist." He picked up the towel and disappeared back downstairs.

I leaned around the end of the sofa and saw Jamie standing in the hallway. "Good evening Jamie" I said. "Come and sit down. Everything must seem to be happening a bit fast for you." He walked round and sat down next to me in the spot Bill had just vacated. "How do you feel about all this?" I asked.

He smiled weakly. "It's all a bit of a blur to be honest with you" he said. "I didn't have any idea of the danger I was in until we arrived at the Authority headquarters yesterday. I appreciated how kind and helpful Bill had been of course, but I had no idea of the risk he was taking until I heard Lydia. She really scared me! I've been so very lucky!" He turned to look at me guiltily. "I'm very sorry really for…..you know…threatening you that night."

I smiled. "That's okay really. I understand."

"That dog that was with you, he seemed very protective, very bright actually. Most dogs sense that there's something not right about me and run away."

"Sam?" I struggled not to laugh. "Oh yes, Sam's very bright…well, most of the time at least!"

Jamie looked a bit puzzled. "Sam?" he asked. "Wasn't that the name of the other man on the boat…..?"

I laughed, I couldn't help myself. "Yes, that was Sam….he's a shifter!" Jamie looked blank. "A shapeshifter? You've never heard of them?"

"No!" said Jamie looking surprised. "I've heard other vampires talking about werewolves and I guessed that the wolves I saw prowling around the area were weres. After all there are no real wolves in England any more!" He blinked at me, his face taking on a fascinated expression. "You mean he can change into anything he likes? That's so cool!" I laughed and Jamie laughed with me. I remembered the frightened, isolated boy we had found on the towpath and laughed again to see the change in him.

"Well you two seem to getting on very well together" came a cool voice from behind the sofa.

"Jamie's just realised that Sam the dog and Sam the crew member on Lady Eleanor are one and the same!" I explained between giggles as Bill came and sat on the arm of the sofa beside me.

"I see!" said Bill with a smile. "I expect that came as a bit of a shock?"

"I've got so much to learn" said Jamie "and I haven't even thanked you properly for looking after me at the Authority. Lydia was right, I really meant nothing to you and yet you stood up to defend me. I'm really very grateful!"

Bill smiled sadly. "Oh I'm just a sucker for punishment, as if Azaria wasn't enough trouble."

"I heard that!" came a faint voice from the direction of the kitchen. Bill chuckled. "You see what I mean!"

Just then I heard the crunch of gravel as a car pulled up in the yard. Bill got up and went to open the kitchen door. Claudia's car had just pulled up in the little yard between the house and the Mill and Bill walked out to open her door for her. Claudia swung her long legs out of the car and stood up. "Hello Bill" she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "It's good to see you."

He smiled at her. "You too Claudia."

Chris and Dan got out of the car and they came in through the kitchen and into the open lounge. Just as Dan was looking around for her, Azaria came out of the door leading down to the old wine cellars looking stunning. She was wearing a pair of black silk trousers and a soft cream coloured blouse. Around her neck was a small collar made of linked jet hearts that Bill had given her and matching jet earrings hung from her ears. Her glossy black hair was neatly plaited and lay down her back almost to her buttocks. I wondered how she managed to plait it so neatly, a skill that I had never mastered. I resolved to ask her for some tips.

She turned to Dan with a brilliant smile. "Hi Dan!" she said. Nice to see you. He gazed back at her adoringly and gave her a shy little smile. As he turned towards her I noticed a faint scar on his brow where he had been hit on the head a few months ago while trying to protect her from the Warriors of Ra.

Bill put his hand on Claudia' waist and directed her into the lounge where Jamie and I sat on one of the sofas.

"This is Claudia" he said. "Claudia, this is Jamie."

Claudia smiled warmly, "Hello Jamie" she said. "Bill's told me what happened to you. I'm so sorry."

Jamie had stood up politely when Claudia was introduced to him and he smiled back at her. "Hello Claudia, are you a friend of Bill's?"

"Yes, I am" she replied "He's asked me if I can help you."

Jamie looked surprised at this. "Why would you do that?" he asked. "You don't even know me!"

"No" she said gently "but I know Bill, and I'll help you for his sake." She sat down elegantly in an armchair and gestured at the sofa. Jamie sat down and watched her warily. "When I was first made I was in your position...worse possibly, since it was before the Revelation and we had to remain hidden. My Maker had disappeared, I never found out what happened to him. I knew very little, had never even been out alone, but I was lucky. The very first time I ventured out on my own I met Bill. He helped me, took care of me, more importantly he taught me to take care of myself. Now I will do the same for you. If you agree that is?"

Jamie looked up at Bill questioningly. "Will I see you again?" he asked.

"Of course!" said Bill with a smile. Claudia is a good friend of mine, and besides, I told the Authority I would be responsible for you, so I'll be checking on you from time to time! Just to make sure she hasn't got you into any trouble!" He grinned at Claudia. "No jumping from roofs okay! That was an emergency!"

Claudia gave a reminiscent smile. "It was fun though!" she said.

Seeing her now, sitting in an armchair in a black pencil skirt, a crisp white blouse and six inch high heels it was hard to imagine her running across the roof of an apartment building with Bill and jumping across alleyways onto the next roof, but I remembered Bill telling me the story. I smiled at the thought and she turned to Jamie and said "I'll tell you about it one day."

We sat and chatted for a while, catching up on what had been happening since we last met until Claudia looked at her watch and said "Oh Bill! I'm sorry but we should be going. Gerry and Susie are coming round later. I thought Gerry might like to meet Jamie?" She turned to him with an inquiring look.

"Well...yes fine" he said.

Dan and Azaria were sitting on the other sofa holding hands. "Can I go with them please Bill?" she asked.

Bill smiled indulgently "Of course!" he said. "But I want you back by five, understand?" There was a lot of hand shaking and kissing and a fair amount of giggling as Chris, Dan and Azaria all tried to squeeze into the back of Claudia's car and then they were gone and Bill and I were alone.

I turned to Bill. "Well you've certainly loosened up a lot!" I said. Letting her go off with Dan without a word of complaint!" He slid his arms around my waist and pulled me to him. "Well how else am I going to get some time alone with you?" he asked. "Besides, she's growing up and he's obviously very fond of her." He sighed. "My baby's growing up!"

I laughed. "Don't be so silly!" I said. "Do you know, at one point I was afraid that she was falling in love with you?" For a moment Bill looked oddly uncomfortable at this. "Now who's being silly?" he said. "You can see she's crazy about Dan."

"But she's certainly very fond of you" I said. Bill pulled me closer without replying. I pulled back from him a little and looked at him curiously. He wouldn't meet my eyes. "Bill!" I said firmly. "What's going on!"

He leaned back against the sofa and sighed. "Okay, okay! When she first arrived, when you went away for that fortnight, she...well, Lazlo had always expected sex from her and she assumed that..."

"Oh Bill...no! She thought you would too?"

"Yes!" Bill looked up at me, looking directly into my eyes this time.

"Oh Bill...whatever did you say to her? I mean...that must have been so embarrassing for both of you."

"Well" he said "I made it clear that I did not expect that from her." He paused for a moment. "Poor girl, she was really confused. Being with Lazlo had taught her that showing love for someone meant allowing them to have sex with you. He'd really messed her up!" He gave me a tiny smile. "It was the only way she knew to show her love for someone. She seemed relieved, when I turned her down...which didn't do my ego a lot of good I must say!"

I'm ashamed to say that I burst out laughing. "Oh Bill, really!"

He sat next to me on the sofa gazing at me for a moment. "You're really an amazing woman, you know that don't you?" he said.

"What?" I laughed. "What are you talking about?"

He was looking at me very seriously. "When I told you what had happened. It never occurred to you for a moment that I might have accepted...did it?"

As I stared back at him I realised that he was right...it hadn't occurred to me. A tiny pink tear appeared in his eye. "I'm astonished, honoured that you would trust me so implicitly" he said softly. I wriggled across the sofa and leaned against him. "You've never given me cause not to trust you" I said quietly.

We sat together on the sofa for a while, Bill's arm around me, my head on his chest. "Well, we've got the evening to ourselves" he said. "What shall we do?"

"Well" I said thoughtfully, "we could watch a movie, or have a game of chess? I think there's a pack of cards in...oooh!"

I gave a squeak of alarm as Bill pulled me down off the sofa and into his arms on the rug. "Chess?" he whispered. "I've got a much better idea..."


	9. Chapter 9

"You're full of ideas, you!" I laughed "Aren't you going to take me downstairs?"

"No, I don't think so" he said contemplating me for a moment. "You're mine remember? I want you...and I want you right now!"

I smiled at him. "Hmm...demanding...I like that in a man!"

He struggled to keep the stern expression on his face and sat up on the rug pulling me gently up onto my knees before him. "Take your clothes off for me?" he whispered. I shivered and began to undo my shirt buttons, not taking my eyes from his face.

"Hmm...obedient" he murmured. "I like that in a woman!"

I giggled and pushed the cotton shirt back off my shoulders wriggling my arms out, the motion causing my heavy breasts to sway enticingly in the lacy bra. Bill's fangs ran out and he smiled down at me. I was just about to reach behind me to unfasten my bra when Bill stopped me. He leaned forward and kissed me, his hands on my shoulders, his tongue pushing between my lips. He slipped his hands behind me and unhooked my bra, pulling it forward over my arms and discarding it carelessly on the rug while he gathered me up into his arms, still kissing me. He rolled us over on the rug until I was lying on my back with him kneeling above me and ran a hand up my leg under my skirt until he felt the lacy top of my stocking. His eyes widened in surprise. "What have we here?" He murmured "and I thought the skirt was out of character for you!"

I gave him a lazy smile. "Well, Claudia's always so smartly dressed, I thought I'd make an effort for once."

Bill's face took on a slightly disappointed expression. "You mean these are not for me?" he asked in a husky voice, his fingers exploring under the lace around my thigh.

I made a beckoning gesture with my index finger and he leaned down a little further. "I'll let you into a little secret" I whispered. "Women only dress to impress men on very special occasions. Usually they dress to impress other women!"

A little growl escaped his lips as he hooked his thumb under the elastic of my panties. "Then I'd better make the most of it!" He paused for a moment. "Were these expensive?" he asked.

"Well, no but…no..…Bill!" before I could stop him he had ripped them off me and leaned down to kiss my stomach, his hands sliding up my thighs moving from the dark lace to my pale soft skin. He paused for a moment looking down at me, his hands on my waist.

"Don't you move a muscle!" he said, getting up and undressing rapidly.

I ignored his instruction and slipped out of the skirt then stretched out on the rug luxuriating in the feel of the soft fur against my naked skin. Bill turned his head and watched me for a moment, the tip of his tongue running over his fangs as he smiled down at me. He kicked off his shoes, not taking his eyes off me and wriggled out of his jeans so fast he was just a blur, the next thing I knew he was kneeling over me again, but this time he was naked. He bent his head and began kissing me, everywhere. I closed my eyes and relaxed as his cool lips and tongue ran over my body making my flesh tingle with every touch. I wriggled on the fur as Bill's tongue curled around my nipples, carefully paying equal attention to each one and then ran down my stomach heading for the spot between my legs which was already throbbing in anticipation. As he pressed his tongue into me I felt a tingling all over and opened my eyes to see the now familiar blue light on my skin.

There was a hiss and Bill pulled back and watched me for a moment. Then he lay down beside me and took my hand, placing it gently on his stomach. We lay silent as the pale blue flickering light began to run from my hand over his skin, spreading quickly all over his naked body. I watched uneasily as it ran down his stomach and thighs and began to spread towards his sizeable erection. Bill stretched out with a sigh as it appeared to pause for a moment but I panicked and drew my hand away. Suddenly Bill's hand flashed up and grasped my wrist hard enough to make the bones creak. He clamped my hand back onto his stomach and let out a quavering moan as the blue light ran over his stiff member.

"Bill!...let go! Please!" I tried to pull my hand out of his grasp, but I might as well have tried to uproot one of the trees in the garden with my bare hands. Suddenly his eyes snapped open and he let go and turned his head towards me.

"I'm sorry...are you okay!" His eyes were wide with shock and he looked down at the light flickering over him and gave another little moan. "Oh please...don't move your hand!"

I stared at the light as it flowed down his stomach, concentrating now at his groin. He pushed his head back and gasped, his fangs fully extended, his powerful arousal evident in every taut muscle in his body. I raised myself up onto my knees alongside him, careful not to move my hand from his skin, and watched, fascinated, as the fae power appeared to caress his swollen member, the flickering blue flames running up and down his length like water. I drew my fingers gently across the tense, hard muscles of his stomach feeling his body begin to shake under my hand and with a roar he went into convulsions, his body twisting into an arc as the strange blue light ran over him pinning him to the floor like a net until he collapsed back onto the rug and lay still.

I took my hand from his body and he continued to lie immobile on the rug, the blue light flickering weakly and going out.

"Bill!" I whispered anxiously. "Are you okay?" He didn't move. Nothing can look deader than a vampire and I began to panic. I took his shoulder and began to shake him. "Bill! Wake up, please!"

His eyes fluttered open and he looked up at me blankly. "What the... wh...what just happened?" He began to sit up and he glanced down at his stomach. "Oh...oh Alex, I'm sorry!" He tried to get up but I stopped him.

"It's okay, let me." I said. I jumped up and ran into the kitchen and down into the old wine cellar which had been converted into two light tight suites. I came back with a washcloth from the bathroom and carefully wiped Bill's stomach clean while he watched me with an embarrassed expression.

"I'm so, so, sorry!" he whispered. "I don't know what happened...well, I mean...obviously..." his voice tailed off and he looked up at me guiltily.

I giggled. "You're a bad, bad boy!" I said sternly. I sat and watched him struggle to keep a straight face for a moment then he gave up and laughed.

"You're right" he said, hanging his head "I'm a very bad boy!"

As if to prove this he whipped his arm around me and pulled me down on top of him. "Want me to show you how bad I can be?" he asked.

"Just a minute!" I said, wriggling out of his grip. "What just happened?"

"I have absolutely no idea!" he said dreamily, lying back on the rug "but damn...I enjoyed it! Can we do it again?"

I curled up beside him on the rug. "What did it feel like?" I asked curiously.

Bill closed his eyes and smiled reminiscently. "It felt...like your hands were running over my body, but everywhere...everywhere at once." He opened his eyes and looked down at himself. I followed his gaze and smiled. His shaft was standing up like a marble column jutting up from the dark hair at his groin. "You see how good it felt?" he asked with a smile.

He slid his arm back around my waist pulling me to him until we lay in each others arms, the pale blue light running over our bodies, Bill kissing every part of me that he could reach. The power trickling over me had previously had no effect on me at all but now, when I touched Bill and the flames licked over both of us, I felt what he had felt earlier, what he was feeling now and my body began to try to mould itself to his of its own accord. Bill raised himself up on his knees and crouched over me glancing down at the fae power flickering over his stiff shaft. He looked up at me with a slightly worried expression. "Do you think...?"

I arched my back, rubbing myself against him and felt a rush of pleasure flow into me. "Yes...oh yes!" I whispered. Bill still looked a little uncertain but he rocked his hips forward obediently and I felt the tingle of the power as he entered me, then there was nothing in the whole world but the delicious feeling of him moving within me.

Bill was a little hesitant at first, evidently worried that the power might hurt me in some way, but I knew somehow that it wouldn't. This was my power, it would never harm me. Instead it seemed to enhance every sensation as it ran over our joined bodies. Once he was convinced that I was okay Bill relaxed and began to enjoy himself. I could see the change in his expression as the tension flowed out of him and he began to move more strongly, his arousal beginning to overtake his worries for my safety. I clung to him, moving with him, our bodies locked together in a dance where both of us were acting purely on instinct, moving solely to increase the pleasure.

Bill laid his head on my shoulder and I relaxed under him, feeling the intensity of both our pleasures, waiting for it to peak, but instead it simply increased to such a pitch that I felt I would die. I clung to Bill, my head at his shoulder, my gasping breaths drawing in his familiar scent. "Please..." I whispered into his ear "don't stop..." Suddenly there was a flash of blue light behind my eyes and a feeling of disorientation. I opened my eyes to find that I was looking down at Bill and myself on the rug beneath me! For a fleeting moment I thought that I had in fact died, but then I realised that I could still feel Bill in my arms. I drew up my knees on either side of his hips and watched in amazement as I flung my stocking clad legs around his waist and locked my ankles across his back. I just had time to wonder what was happening to me when I felt Bill move his head and felt his fangs graze my throat. I pushed my head back murmuring "Yes Bill..." and as his fangs penetrated my flesh I felt myself snap back and suddenly I was looking up at him again and my body was writhing in great shuddering convulsions as I climaxed in his arms.

I felt his lips seal around the little wound that he had made and felt the pull as he began to feed greedily. As he drank I felt the power begin to fade and flicker out as though he were somehow consuming it and then his arms tightened around me as he began to shake with his own climax.

For a few moments he simply held me, panting, in his arms. The he rolled over until we were lying side by side on the rug. He rested his forehead against mine for a moment and the kissed me tenderly. "Do you remember when I told you that there was nothing quite as mind-blowing as sex between two vampires?" He asked softly.

I was too exhausted to respond so I just nodded. "Well it seems that I was wrong."

I stared up at him uncomprehendingly. "It must be a combination of feeling through the blood bond, enhanced by the power of the fae, but in all my years on this earth I have never felt anything like that before."

I smiled and simply relaxed against him resting my head on his chest. Perhaps it was the almost total exhaustion brought on by our lovemaking but I whispered something that I had been afraid to mention until now.

"You know I love you Bill, but it was only when I felt that I might have lost you that I realised just how much! I couldn't bear to be without you. I want to be with you always...forever."

Bill's face went completely blank with shock and he stared at me in silence.

"You can't imagine that I've never thought about it?" I whispered. "You must have thought about it, surely?"

"No! No, I've never…..not seriously….."

I reached over and stroked his cheek with my fingers. "You have though, haven't you?" I asked quietly.

He looked down. "Well…..yes" he admitted softly. "But I would never do that to you, honestly…you must believe me!"

We stared at each other for a moment in silence. "I've thought about it Bill. Because I don't want to lose you…I don't want to grow old and grey and….."

Bill reached over and pulled me closer to him. "I'll never leave you….never… I promise."

I could feel the tears in my eyes as I looked up at him. "But I don't want that Bill. I don't want you to stay with me because you feel you have to, because you're sorry for me." I stroked his hair gently and said "you'll never change, you'll always be just as you are now, but I won't. You have to think of that."

Bill held me in his arms and I clung to him. "Please, don't ask me to do this" he whispered. "I can't….I could never condemn you to the sort of half-life that we have. You've seen what we are, the worst of us, the darkness that surrounds us, the ease with which we can slide into it!"

"But it doesn't have to be like that!" I said "I know that too. Yes there's Lazlo and Morgan and Clovis, but there's also you and Azaria and Claudia…." I smiled at him. "It's okay, I'm not going to ask you…..not now, but we should think about it, talk about it sometime. We can't just keep on avoiding the whole subject, you know that. You had to admit that you've thought about it yourself."

Bill sighed. "Yes, you're right of course. It was just a shock." He kissed me again. "I have thought about it...of course I have. I love you, and I want to keep you with me but..." he paused and looked at me, his bright blue eyes fixed on mine. "It's just that, after what I experienced, I can't imagine anyone actually choosing this existence, voluntarily and I could never force it on you, no matter how much I wanted you. Of course in my time no one knew about us so we never had the opportunity to think about it, but now...I suppose there must be people who choose to be turned, who actively want it." For a moment he looked lost, "it's all so different now! I worked towards the Revelation for so long, it appeared to be all I ever wanted, to live alongside humans to be a part of society again, no longer an outcast. We never thought that there would be unintended consequences...at least, I didn't!"

I smiled up at him "There are always unintended consequences to any action Bill, you just have to learn to live with them."

"Please" he said seriously "don't think about what I might want...you must think about yourself. Getting involved with me in the first place was dangerous enough but this...if I were to do this...there would be no going back! There would be no "living" with the consequences!"

"I do understand that" I said "I'm not stupid Bill!" I reached over and brushed a lock of hair back from his forehead and looked into his worried eyes. "I'm not suggesting that you turn me right now! I'm not going to get old and grey overnight" I said gently. "I'm just saying that it's something we should acknowledge. A possibility for the future. We should talk about it sometime" I yawned, "sometime when I'm not half asleep that is!"

Bill stared at me for a moment longer and then appeared to relax a little. He stood up with me in his arms. "Let's go somewhere more comfortable shall we?" He headed for the stairs down to the light tight rooms in the old wine cellar and I knew that he would hold me, cradled in his strong arms, until the dawn came to separate us.


End file.
